THE  NATION'S 


SIN  AND  PUNISHMENT; 


OK, 


^     THE  HAND  OF  GOD 

0?   xu*        ^     ^ 

VISIBLE  IN  THE 
o 


OVERTHROW  OF  SLAVERY. 

^ 

C*j     /   <} 

-.  O^M^V^    'rs     / 

.  BY  A  CHAPLAIN  OF  THE  U.  S.  ARMY, 

Who  has  been,  thirty  years,  a  resident  of  the  Slave  States. 


NEW  YORK: 
M.  DOOLADY,  AGENT,  49  WALKER  ST. 

AMERICAN    NEWS  COMPANY,  121   NASSAU  STREET. 

K.    CEAIGHEAD,    PKINTJSB. 

1864. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress  in  the  year  1864,  by 

STEPHEN  A.  HODGMAN. 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States,  for  the 
Southern  District  of  New  York. 


Stereotyped  by  VINCENT  DILL, 

No.  24  Beekman  St.,  N.  Y. 


P*  ^V/ 

\£gg^/ 

CONTENTS. 


PAGE. 

DEDICATION.    .......  5 

AUTHOR'S  INTRODUCTION.             .           .           .           •  .7 

I. — WARS — JUST  OR  UNJUST.    .  .  .  .11 

II. — WHAT  is  SLAVERY.       .           .           .           •  .22 

m. — ORIGIN  CF  AFRICAN  SLAVERY.       ...  30 

L-iV. — EARLY  OPPOSITION  TO  SLAVERY.         .           .  .35 

V. — THE  MIDDLE  PASSAGE.        ....  44 

VI. — THE  LAST  CRIME  OF  SLAVERY.            .           .  .63 

VII. — THE  EXPIATION.       .  76 

VHL— THE  "  Malum  in  se  "  THEORY.  .    94 
rfijff-  rnTrrrrmTTTT  VERSUS  SLAVERY.     .           .           .114 

X. — THE  VOICE  OF  BLOOD.             .           .           .  .133 

XL— RACHEL'S  LAMENTATION.     ....  146 

XII. — ENSLAVEMENT  OF  THE  METD.     .           .           .  .166 

XIII.— BREEDING  SLAVES  FOR  MARKET.    .           .           .  176 

XIV. — THE  MARRIAGE  ALTAR  THROWN  DOWN.          .  .185 

XV. — THE  PROCLAMATION.            ....  198 

XVI. — HOW  TO  DISPOSE   OF  THE   LIBERATED  SLAVES.  .   207 

XVII. — RELIGIOUS  CHARACTER  OF  THE  NEGRO.     ..          .        218 

XV1TI. — THE  COLORED  REGIMENTS.       ....  228 

XIX. — AUTHOR'S  EXPERIENCE  AMONG  THE  REBELS.         .        242 

XX. — CONCLUSION — THREE  PARTIES.  ....  258 


DEDICATION. 


To  the  Christian  people  of  this  great  and 
free  land,  this  little  volume  is  affectionately 
dedicated.  We  have  not,  as  we  should  have 
done,  recognized  the  hand  of  our  God,  in  the 
terrible  judgments  that  have  come  on  our 
Nation.  The  design  of  this  little  volume 
is,  to  trace  those  judgments  to  their  legiti 
mate  and  just  cause,  and  to  view,  in  its  re 
ligious  aspect,  the  sanguinary  strife,  through 
which  we  are  now  passing.  As  a  Nation, 
we  are  guilty,  in  having  tolerated  and  up 
held  for  a  long  series  of  years,  the  most 
matured  system  of  iniquity  and  oppression, 
that  devils  or  wicked  men  ever  yet  devised. 
The  wonder  is,  that,  the  Divine  judgments 
did  not  descend  upon  us  long  ago.  But  our 
eyes  have  been  opened  at  length,  and  we 
are  thankful,  that  our  land  is  to  be  cleans 
ed  from  its  pollutions. 

THE  AUTHOK. 

In  Camp,  November,  1863. 


0*  Tfl 


THE  AUTHOR'S  INTRODUCTION, 


THE  writer  of  this  fugitive  Essay,  lias  no 
apology  to  make,  for  this  Introduction  of 
himself  to  the  Public,  but  he  deems  it  pro 
per  to  remark,  that,  having  received  a  North 
ern  birth  and  education,  he  has  spent  the 
last  thirty-two  years  of  his  life  in  the  Slave 
States.  He  thinks,  therefore,  that  he  can 
say,  without  the  charge  of  vanity,  he  feels 
competent,  from  his  own  personal  knowledge, 
to  give,  correctly,  the  characteristics  of  Sla 
very,  and  of  Slave-holders.  He  would  also 
further  remark,  that  he  is  not  now,  and  that 
he  never  has  been  an  Abolitionist,  of  the 
radical  school.  He  has  always  been  an  anti- 
slavery  man.  But  from  the  very  hour  when 
the  Eebels  opened  their  batteries  on  Fort 
Surnter,  he  has  been  an  earnest  and  practi- 


8  THE  AUTHOR'S  INTRODUCTION. 

cal  Emancipationist;  for  lie  then  became 
assured  that  the  downfall  of  slavery  had 
been  decreed  of  Heaven,  and  he  knew  that 
it  would  be  only  madness  to  be  found  in  op 
position  to  the  WILL  OF  GOD,  as  revealed  in 
the  terrible  dispensations  of  his  Providence. 
He  had  always  endeavored  to  stand,  on  con 
servative  ground,  acting  in  the  spirit  of  con 
ciliation  and  compromise,  in  which  spirit  the 
nation  had  grown  up  as  a  unity,  and  had 
advanced  to  a  degree  of  unexampled  pros 
perity.  He  belonged  to  that  branch  of  the 
Church,  which  entirely  ignored  the  right  of 
Ecclesiastical  bodies,  to  legislate  on  the  sub 
ject  of  slavery.  His  motive,  as  well  as  that 
of  the  brethren  of  the  same  Church,  who 
acted  in  this  conservative  spirit,  was  to  pre 
vent,  if  possible,  the  dismemberment  of  the 
Church,  and  the  dissolution  of  the  States' 
Union. 

But  we  have  been  disappointed.  Our  pol 
icy  was  wrong.  This  confession  does  not 
imply  that  we  had  adopted  a  wrong  policy, 


THE  AUTHOR'S  INTRODUCTION.  9 

intentionally,  to  accomplish  a  laudable  pur 
pose.  The  Union  has  been  dissolved,  to  be 
reconstructed,  we  doubt  not,  on  a  better, 
and  surer  foundation.  The  Church  has  been 
rent  asunder,  notwithstanding  all  our  con 
servatism.  Slavery  has  done  the  mischief. 
Conservatism  could  not  prevent  it.  We 
were  only  mistaken  as  to  what  the  Almigh 
ty  had  willed.  The  Abolitionists  were  but 
instruments  who  had  a  special  agency  to 
perform  in  the  work.  But  no  thanks  to 
them!  the  war  had  become  necessary.  A 
wise  and  just  Providence  has  directed  all 
the  steps.  The  writer  exults  in  the  belief, 
that  the  revolution  will  be  most  glorious, 
in  its  results,  to  the  Nation  at  large,  and  to 
the  interests  of  the  universal  Church  Mili 
tant. 


2VB-B.SITYI 


I. 

WARS— JUST   OR  UNJUST. 

I  HAVE  somewhere  read,  in  history,  of  two 
brothers,  who  quarreled  for  the  possession  of  a 
throne.  The  contest  became  so  fierce,  that  each 
decided  to  raise  an  army,  and  to  settle  their 
claims  on  the  field  of  blood.  When  the  combat 
was  over,  the  two  brothers  were  found,  side  by 
side,  in  the  embrace  of  death.  Their  mutual  ani 
mosity  had  been  so  violent,  that  they  had  sought 
and  encountered  one  another,  in  single  combat, 
and  had  fallen,  on  the  same  spot,  each  pierced  by 
the  other's  sword.  This  was  a  war  between  two 
brothers. 

The  war  now  desolating  this  once  prosperous 
and  happy  country,  is  a  war  between  brothers! 

Tell  me,  0  ye  people  of  America,  who  boast  of 
your  Christianity,  how,  think  you,  a  Holy  God 
must  look  down,  from  his  glorious  habitation,  on 
such  a  strife  between  brothers!  How  must  the 


12  WARS — JUST  OR  UNJUST. 

blessed  and  holy  angels  view  such  a  contest  as 
this !  With  what  sentiments  must  every  truly 
devout  and  Christian  philanthropist  throughout 
the  world,  regard  this  grand  display  of  rage  and 
hellish  passions!  Can  it  be  imagined,  that  pure 
and  holy  beings,  either  in  heaven  or  upon  earth, 
can  look  on  such  a  contest  with  emotions  of  sat 
isfaction  or  complacency?  Does  the  exhibition  of 
such  demoniacal  wrath,  indicate  that  man  was, 
originally,  endowed  with  reason  and  a  moral  con 
science?  that  the  image  of  Deity  was  instamped 
on  his  heart  ?  and  that  he  was  made,  in  form  and 
soul,  erect,  and  superior  to  savage  beasts  whose 
nature  thirsts  for  blood? 

The  existence  of  war  proves  that  man  is  a 
fallen  being.  He  fell  from  his  allegiance  to  a 
Holy  God.  This  is  the  reason,  and  no  other  can 
be  assigned,  why  he  is  ever  made  willing  to  imbrue 
his  hand  in  the  blood  of  his  brother  man.  If  it 
were  not  so,  this  earth  would  never  have  become 
the  theater  of  wars,  and  deadly  strifes;  but  the 
whole  family  of  Adam  had  remained  united  to 
gether,  in  the  bonds  of  love  and  a  sacred  brother 
hood. 

What  a  terrible  thing  sin  is !     It  sowed  the  first 
seeds  of  discord!     It  first  caused  the  tocsin  of 


WARS — JUST  OR   UNJUST.  13 

war  to  be  sounded  in  the  peaceful  realms  of  the 
new  and  green  earth,  which  God  created  and  de 
signed  as  the  abode  of  man !  It  has  strewn  every 
battle-field  with  the  dead  and  mangled  corpses  of 
earth's  children! 

What  a  frightful  thing  sin  is!  No  wonder  a 
Holy  God  hates  sin,  with  an  infinite  and  eternal 
hatred ! 

View  war,  in  its  inception  and  in  its  progress 
—what  are  its  paraphernalia,  and  its  accompani 
ments?  Human  .ingenuity  has  been  taxed  to  the 
utmost  extent — science  has  been  laid  under  con 
tribution,  to  furnish  the  most  deadly  and  destruct 
ive  implements  of  death  that  could  be  invented. 

See  the  opposing  hosts  drawn,  up  in  battle 
array  ;  they  are  members  of  the  same  common 
family  of  God,  who  have  fallen  out  with  one  an 
other,  and  are  met  to  settle  the  controversy.  The 
weapons  of  death  gleam  in  their  hands.  The  pas 
sions  of  hell  rage  and  burn  in  their  hearts.  The 
trumpet  sounds !  Wild  and  savage  yells  are 
heard !  It  is  the  signal  for  the  commencement 
of  the  slaughter — the  battle  begins  !  There  is  a 
deafening  roar  of  artillery — the  plains  are  envel 
oped  in  clouds  of  smoke — the  ground  is  strewn 
with  the  dead — the  air  is  rent  with  the  groans 


14  WARS — JUST  OR  UNJUST. 

of  the  dying !  This  is  war !  aye,  this  is  honor 
able  and  Christian  warfare !  And  this  is  the 
mode  in  which  brethren  choose  to  settle  the  dif 
ferences  that  arise  between  them !  Can  a  right 
eous  God  approve  of  such  horrible  carnage  ? 

It  has  been  represented  that  war  is  a  necessary 
evil.  It  is  so,  only  to  the  extent  that  sin  abounds 
— for  every  war  is  the  effect  of  sin. 

Defensive  wars  are  justifiable.  The  present 
civil  war,  as  undertaken  to  defend  and  maintain 
the  Government  of  the  country,  and  to  perpetuate 
the  glorious  inheritance  of  civil  and  religious  lib 
erty,  bequeathed  to  us  by  our  ancestors,  is  a 
necessary,  and,  therefore,  a  just  war.  But,  as 
undertaken  by  the  Rebels,  to  break  up  the  Gov 
ernment,  it  is  not  a  just  war,  but  a  horrible 
revolt  against  God,  and  against  human  rights. 
There  was  no  imperative  and  absolute  necessity, 

that  forced  them  to  engage  in  this  war.     They 

*-\  ^ 

did  it  voluntarily,  and  without  a  just  cause. 
Therefore,  there  is  no  palliation  for  their  guilt, 
and  the  vengeance  of  a  just  God,  is  inflicted, 
and  must  be  inflicted  on  them. 

Notwithstanding  that  all  wars  are  the  result 
of  sin,  yet,  as  I  have  already  intimated,  some 
wars  are  just  and  necessary.  And,  it  may  be 


WAES — JUST  OR  UNJUST.  15 

said,  that,  as  permitted  by  the  Supreme  Being, 
all  wars  result  in  good  to  the  human  family. 
We  cannot  always  tell  what  good,  but  some 
times  we  can. 

We  are  sure  that  the  war  of  our  Independence, 
which  laid  the  foundations  of  the  greatest  nation, 
and  the  best  government  on  earth,  effected  an 
amount  of  good  which  it  is  scarcely  possible  for 
the  human  intellect  to  estimate. 

The  Mexican  war  was  overruled  for  good,  in 
asmuch  as  it  resulted  in  wresting,  from  a  state  of 
anarchy  and  misrule,  a  large  portion  of  this  con 
tinent,  and  bringing  it  under  the  empire  of  free 
dom.  It  does  not  require  the  spirit  of  vaticination 
to  foresee,  at  this  late  hour  of  the  day,  that  the 
whole  of  this  New  World,  discovered  by  Colum 
bus,  is  destined  to  be  brought  under  that  Empire 
of  Freedom. 

And  who  does  not  believe  that  this  present  great 
civil  war,  will  be,  in  its  results,  as  glorious  for 
the  family  of  man  at  large,  as  any  •  that  has  ever 
preceded  it,  in  the  history  of  nations  ? 

In  the  first  place,  it  will  be  the  overthrow  of 
Slavery,  which  has  so  long  been  a  withering  and 
blighting  curse  to  the  richest  and  most  beautiful 
section  of  our  wide  domain.  If  that  should  be 


16  WARS — JUST  OR  UNJUST. 

the  only  result,  it  will  be  worth  all  the  blood 
and  treasure  expended  in  the  achievement  of  so 
desirable  an  end.  In  all  my  reading,  I  must 
say,  I  have  never  read  of  a  more  matured  system 
of  fraud,  and  wholesale  murder  and  oppression, 
than  this  system  of  slavery,  which  has  been  so 
long  tolerated  under  the  auspices  of  our,  so 
called,  free  government.  For  one,  I  rejoice  for 
my  country,  that  it  is  to  be  blotted  out  forever. 
In  the  second  place,  the  effect  of  this  war, 
will  be,  to  cement  and  strengthen  the  bonds  of 
the  Union.  There  is  little  probability  that  we 
shall  ever  see  another  civil  war  in  this  land.  If 
eleven  powerful  States,  combining  their  resour 
ces  and  strength,  could  not  succeed  in  breaking 
up  the  Government,  but  have  been  so  severely 
punished  for  their  mad  undertaking,  what  likeli 
hood  is  there,  that  any  other  States  will  ever, 
hereafter,  venture  upon  a  similar  experiment? 
No,  we  believe  that  all  our  sectional  disputes  and 
differences  that  may  hereafter  arise,  will  be  set 
tled  by  ballots,  and  not  by  bullets.  There  will 
never  be  another  appeal  to  arms  to  decide  polit 
ical  questions  and  local  disputes.  It  is  some 
thing,  surely,  to  have  attained  a  purpose  so  de 
sirable  as  this. 


WARS — JUST  OR  UNJUST.  17 

In  the  last  place,  this  war  has  served  to  de- 
velope  the  fact,  that  the  people  of  this  country 
have  a  government  which  can  maintain  itself, 
not  only  against  foreign  enemies,  but  against  do 
mestic  foes,  and  traitors  at  home.  The  fact  has 
been  illustrated,  that  there  is,  in  the  heart  of  the 
masses  of  the  people,  a  love  for  the  Union,  even 
stronger  than  love  for  life  itself,  which  would 
cause  them  to  rally  to  the  defence  of  that  Union, 
when  endangered,  under  any  and  all  circumstan 
ces.  If  this  civil  war  were  ended  to-day,  we 
should  have  no  fears  in  regard  to  the  perpetu 
ity  of  the  Union,  not  even  if  the  Nations  of 
Europe  should  conspire  together,  for  its  destruc 
tion.  In  view  of  the  future  of  our  country,  which 
was  also'  the  country  of  "Washington  and  of 
Franklin,  we  can  say,  esto  pcrpetua,  in  the  full 
belief,  that  the  ejaculation  is  not  uttered  in  vain. 

We  see ,  therefore ,  how  it  is ,  that  the  Almighty 
sends  war,  and  overrules  it,  for  the  accomplish 
ment  of  great  good  to  the  nations.  Doubtless, 
all  the  wars  that  have  ever  occurred  in  the  world, 
have  resulted  in  some  good,  although  shortsighted 
mortals  might  not  be  able  to  discover  it,  at  the 
moment. 

The  Lord  hath  said,  in  his  word,  that,  he  will 


18  WARS — JUST  OR  UNJUST. 

overturn,  and  mvrturn,  and  overturn,  till  he  shall 
reign,  whose  right  it  w,  and  he  will  give  him  the 
kingdom.  The  most  obvious  meaning  of  this  lan 
guage  is,  that  revolution  shall  succeed  revolution 
among  the  nations,  until  the  reign  of  Jesus  Christ 
is  established,  and  then,  there  shall  be  peace  on 
earth. 

All  the  wars  that  have  been  waged  of  late 
years,  and  all  the  changes  that  are  now  taking 
place,  in  the  condition  of  nations,  seem  ordained 
to  prepare  the  way  for  the  reign  of  Jesus  Christ. 
The  two  last  wars  in  Europe,  the  Crimean  and 
the  Italian,  broke  the  power  of  the  two  most  for 
midable  despotisms  in  the  old  world.  And  this 
great  American  war,  is  destined  to  subvert  and 
destroy  Slavery,  in  the  new  world. 

The  reign  of  Jesus  Christ,  will  be  one  of 
universal  peace  and  freedom.  Previous  to  the 
birth  of  Christianity,  Slavery  prevailed  generally 
throughout  the  world.  But  it  has  been  gradu 
ally  retreating,  as  the  Cross  has  advanced  in 
triumph,  till  now.  I  believe  there  are  but  two 
countries  under  the  influence  of  the  Christian 
Religion,  where  slavery  exists,  viz ;  the  Spanish 
West  Indies,  and  Brazil,  in  South  America.  And 
it  is  known,  that,  it  is  bnt  an  imperfect  form 


WARS — JUST  OR  UNJUST.  19 

of  Christianity  that  exists  in  those  countries. 
But  we  may  rest  assured,  that,  it  will  not  be 
many  years  before  they  will  be  fully  redeemed 
from  the  curse,  and  the  shackles  shall  fall  from 
the  limbs  of  every  slave. 

There  are  many  signs  which  clearly  indicate, 
that  we  are  approaching  the  Millennial  age  of 
the  world.  Who  can  enumerate  the  discoveries 
and  improvements  in  Science  and  Art,  of  the 
last  fifty  years,  including  the  Steam  Engine,  the 
Eail  Road,  the  Magnetic  Telegraph,  and  a  thou 
sand  other  things,  all  of  which  are  calculated 
to  bring  the  scattered  race  of  Adam  nearer  to 
gether,  as  one  family,  in  the  bonds  of  brother 
hood  and  charity.  And  who  can  speak,  in  ade 
quate  terms,  of  the  operations  of  the  Press,  in 
the  diffusion  of  knowledge?  The  Bible  has  been 
translated  into  almost  every  spoken  language, 
and  millions  of  copies  have  been  put  into  cir 
culation. 

Under  this  belief,  of  the  near  approach  of  the 
Millennium,  I  am  willing  to  see  revolution  suc 
ceed  revolution,  in  the  affairs  of  nations.  I  re 
joice  to  witness  the  great  stoppings  of  the  Al 
mighty  on  the  theater  of  the  world.  Nor  do 
I  feel  dismayed,  at  the  fearful  overturnings  and 


20  WARS — JUST  OR  UNJUST. 

earthquakes,  by  which  one  gigantic  system  of 
tyranny  after  another  is  overthrown.  I  believe 
that  we  shall  still  hear  of  wars,  and  rumors  of 
wars,  according  to  the  word  of  Jesus  Christ. 
But,  from  the  signs  of  the  times,  I  believe  these 
wars  will  speedily  take  place,  and  it  will  not 
be  very  long  before  the  last  battle 'shall  be 
fought. 

England,  Spain,  and  perhaps  some  other  nations 
have  debts  of  long  standing  to  be  settled,  which, 
I  think,  will  be  exacted  of  them  before  very 
long,  in  blood.  If  I  know  what  justice  is,  and, 
if  I  can  read  aright,  there  must  be  such  debts 
standing  charged  against  them,  in  the  Book  of 
the  Most  High,  and  when  the  hour  for  settle 
ment  comes,  as  come  it  will,  they  must  meet  the 
account. 

God  does  punish  the  nations  for  their  sins ! 
Our  nation,  to  day,  in  sackcloth  and  ashes,  attests 
the  truth  of  this  declaration.  And  if  this  favored 
land  has  been  so  severely  judged,  will  He,  can 
He,  consistently  with  the  principles  of  Eternal 
Justice,  let  other  nations  escape?  As  sure  as 
God  reigns  on  his  throne  in  Heaven,  he  will  not. 
The  innocent  blood  shed  by  them,  will  be  ex 
acted  of  them,  in  turn. 


WARS — JUST  OR  UNJUST.  21 

There  may  be  some  now  living,  who,  though 
not  very  young,  may  be  permitted  to  see  the  last 
bloody  conflict,  which  is  to  precede  the  dawning 
of  the  millennial  day,  when  the  olive  branch  of 
peace  shall  be  seen  throughout  the  world.  The 
best  commentators  are  of  the  opinion,  that,  the 
prophecies  are  nearly  fulfilled,  and  that  the  com 
mencement  of  that  wished  for,  golden  age  of  the 
world,  is  near  at  hand. 


22 


II. 
WHAT  IS  SLAVERY? 

To  a  conscience,  humanized  by  the  influences 
of  a  Christian  civilization,  as  well  as  to  an  en 
lightened  reason,  there  is  something  repugnant  in 
the  theory,  that  one-half,  or  any  portion,  of  the 
children  of  Adam,  were  born  to  be  slaves  and 
drudges  for  the  other  half.  If  the  theory  were 
true,  one  would  suppose  that  men  should  come 
into  the  world,  with  some  distinctive  marks  upon 
them,  indicating  to  what  destiny  they  were  born. 

We  receive  the  Bible  account  of  the  creation 
of  man  •  and,  placing  implicit  confidence  in  the 
authenticity  of  that  account,  we  cannot,  for  a  mo 
ment,  entertain  the  notion,  that,  during  the  first 
generation  of  man,  even  in  the  life-time  of  Adam, 
some  of  his  sons  and  daughters  were  enslaved 
by  the  others,  and  bought  and  sold  by  them,  as 
merchandise.  But  why  not,  if  slavery  is  an  Insti 
tution  of  Divine  origin  ?  Surely,  we  have  a  right 


WHAT  IS  SLAVERY?  23 

to  suppose  that  every  institution  of  a  Divine  na 
ture — as  marriage,  and  others  which  God  estab 
lished — must  have  nourished  in  the  garden  of 
Eden,  and  during  the  earlier  ages,  when  the  world 
was  far  more  free  from  the  eflects  of  sin,  than  it 
has  been  at  any  subsequent  period ;  yet  there  is 
nothing  said  of  the  existence  of  slavery  in  the 
garden  of  Eden,  and,  in  the  Mosaic  account  of  the 
creation,  there  is  no  mention*  made  of  any  such 
institution. 

We  have  learned  men  and  eminent  theologians 
in  our  day,  proclaiming  the  Divine  origin  of 
slavery.  They  are,  at  this  hour,  edifying  their 
brethren  throughout  the  Southern  Confederacy,  by 
teaching  that  this  new  government  has  been  or 
dained  of  God,  for  the  purpose  of  conserving  and 
perpetuating  the  peculiar  and  Divine  institution. 
I  am  acquainted  with  one  of  these  reverend  lec 
turers.  An  Englishman  by  birth,  he  settled  first 
in  Syracuse,  N.  Y.,  where  he  distinguished  him 
self  as  an  earnest  and  zealous  advocate  for  aboli 
tion.  Afterwards,  he  removed  to  the  South,  and 
soon  became  equally  earnest  and  zealous  for  the 
divine  right  of  slavery,  and,  months  before  the 
war  commenced}  openly  avowed  and  preached  Se 
cession  from  his  pulpit. 


24  WHAT  IS  SLAVERY? 

Another  lecturer,  Dr.  Palmer,  is  entitled  to  be 
considered  as  a  leader  in  this  class  of  divines. 
But  he  was  born  in  South  Carolina,  and  some 
allowance  may  be  made  for  him,  on  account  of 
the  peculiar  training  and  education  he  received 
in  his  youth.  He  asserted  in  a  public  discourse, 
in  New  Orleans,  that  the  cause  of  the  Confeder 
acy  was  a  more  just  and  sacred  cause,  than  that 
for  which  Washington  and  the  Eevolutionary 
fathers  fought.  He  also  declared  publicly,  that, 
he  should  lose  his  confidence  in  God,  as  a  God 
of  truth  and  justice,  if  he  should  give  success  to 
the  arms  of  the  North.  How  strikingly  we  see 
verified,  in  such  cases,  the  old  heathen  adage, 
"  Quern  Deus  vult  perdere,  prius  dementat" 

No,  the  most  that  can  be  said  in  favor  of 
slavery  is,  that,  like  war  and  many  other  evils 
that  afflict  the  world,  it  was  engendered  by  sin. 
It  belongs  to  the  same  family  of  ills  that  were 
let  loose,  when  Pandora's  box  was  opened,  to 
scourge  humanity.  To  say  that  it  was  ever  de 
signed  as  a  blessing  to  the  human  family,  would 
be,  in  effect  to  affirm  that  the  curse  which  Noah 
pronounced  on  Canaan,  was  a  blessing  !  It  would 
be  to  put  darkness  for  light;  to  call  evil  good. 
And  to  assert  that  slavery  is  a  Christian. Ins ti- 


WHAT  IS  SLAVERY?  25 

tution,  would  be  tantamount  to  saying,  that  Christ 
did  not  come  into  the  world  to  redeem  men  from 
under  the  curse  of  sin.  But,  to  teach  that  the  ob 
ject  of  his  Heavenly  Mission  to  the  earth,  was 
to  rivet  the  fetters  of  bondage  on  the  slave,  in 
stead  of  breaking  every  yoke,  is  a  piece  of  im 
piety  bold  enough  to  bring  the  blush  of  shame  on 
the  very  cheeks  of  damnation. 

No  one,  who  makes  any  pretensions  to  piety, 
will  controvert  the  position  that  slavery,  as  it  ex 
ists,  and  as  it  has  existed  for  long  ages  in  the 
world,  was  originally  produced  by  sin.  It  is  one 
of  the  works  of  the  Devil.  But  Christ  came  into 
the  world  to  destroy  the  works  of  the  Devil. 

The  principle  that  might  makes  right,  is  the 
principle  that  has  practically  governed  the  world, 
during  Satan's  dominion  over  it.  It  is  the  prin 
ciple  that  has  made  slaves  of  one  part  of  the 
family  of  man,  and  tyrants  of  another  part  of  the 
same  family. 

The  first  slaves,  as  it  is  generally  supposed, 
were  captives  taken  in  war,  sold  or  distributed 
among  the  conquerors,  and  afterwards  held  by 
them  as  bondmen. 

What  would  be  thought  by  the  civilized  world, 
of  any  Christian  nation,  who  should  sell  the  prison- 


26  WHAT  IS  SLAVERY  ? 

ers  taken  in  war  to  be  held  as  slaves  for  life, 
and  their  posterity?  What  would  the  philanthro 
pists  of  England  say,  if  our  Government  should 
cause  the  Confederate  prisoners,  taken  in  this  war, 
to  be  sold  into  perpetual  slavery  ?  Yet,  if  slavery 
is  a  Divine  Institution,  and  if  it  was  just  in  its 
origin,  we  ought  to  do  this  ;  and  certainly,  no  one 
could  complain  of  the  injustice,  without  finding 
fault  with  an  ordinance  of  God !  As  a  measure  of 
retaliation,  it  might  be  viewed  as  an  act  of  retri 
butive  justice,  for  their  enslavement  of  the  Africans. 
And  we  know  that  the  law  of  retaliation  is  strictly 
just,  although  militating  againt  a  dispensation  of 
mercy,  like  that  under  which  we  have  been  brought 
by  the  Gospel.  Dr.  Palmer  and  his  fellow  labor 
ers  in  preaching  their  new  gospel,  could  not  com 
plain  of  our  Government,  if  they  should  sell  every 
rebel  captured,  himself  included  in  the  number,  to 
be  forever  hereafter  held  as  slaves. 

But  instead  of  fighting  for  such  a  principle,  we 
make  war  against  it,  and  it  is  nothing  but  oppo 
sition  to  this  new  and  diabolical  theory,  that  has 
involved  us  in  this  terrible  civil  strife,  and  clothed 
our  nation  in  sackcloth. 

What  is  slavery?  Analyze  the  thing — Let  its 
foul  and  corrupt  carcass  be  dissected,  and  if  any 


WHAT  IS  SLAVERY?  27 

one  can  see  in  it,  aught  but  sin,  he  must  look 
through  a  medium  strangely  distorted. 

What  is  slavery?  Man  puts  a  chain  on  the 
limbs  of  his  brother  man, — deprives  him  of  his 
freedom — calls  him  his  slave — and  compels  him, 
with  whip  in  hand,  to  do  his  bidding!  This  is 
slavery  1 

Laws  are  enacted,  legalizing  the  act,  and  giving 
him  the  right  to  hold,  his  victim  as  a  slave.  Laws 
are  enacted  by  the  stronger  party — the  miserable 
slave  has  no  voice  in  enacting  the  law,  and  is 
powerless  to  resist  it — He  is  not  now  his  own 
man — He  belongs  to  another.  He  cannot  use  his 
feet  any  longer  to  walk  whither  soever  he  will. 
He  is  not  at  liberty  to  employ  his  hands  to  do 
whatsoever  he  will — He  is  not  free  to  exercise 
his  reason  to  choose  and  determine  for  himself, 
what  actions  are  right — He  has  no  right  to  the  use 
of  speech,  to  utter  what  words  he  may  think  most 
suitable — but  every  member,  and  every  faculty  of 
his  mind  and  body,  belongs  to  another ;  and  he 
can  only  employ  them,  as  instruments,  to  do  the 
pleasure  of  another,  whom  he  must  call,  master. 
This  is  Slavery.  To  say,  that  the  Merciful  Father 
willed  it, — to  call  it  a  Divine  Institution,  may  justly 
be  considered  as  evidence  of  a  perverted  Intellect. 


28  WHAT  IS  SLAVERY? 

Has  the  wretched  slave  a  wife  now  ?  Has  he 
a  child?  *Has  he  a  father,  or  a  mother?  Has  he 
a  legal  right  to  cherish  and  protect  his  wife? 
Can  he  live  with,  and  support  her,  according  to 
God's  Institution  ?  Can  he  educate  his  child,  and 
train  it  in  the  way  he  should  go,  according  to 
God's  Command?  Can  he  comfort  and  support 
his  aged  and  infirm  parents,  as  the  dictates  of 
natural  affection,  and  the  duties  of  religion  re 
quire  ? 

No !  he  has  no  right  to  his  own  wife — no  right 
to  his  child — no  right  even  to  visit  his  old  mother  ! 
• — His  wife  has  been  sold  and  is  the  slave,  or  the 
mistress  of  another — His  child  belongs  to  another 
master,  and  has  been  transported  to  a  distant  state, 
and  he  shall  never  see  that  child  again.  This  is 
slavery  I  To  call  it  a  Divine  Institution  would 
be  to  give  utterance  to  that  which  would  be  no 
thing  short  of  the  boldest  blasphemy. 

Yet,  this  is  the  glorious  Institution,  for  which 
the  Southern  people  made  war  against  their  breth 
ren.  For  the  inestimable  privilege  of  holding  a 
portion  of  God's  children  in  bondage,  and  carrying 
on  a  traffic  in  the  bodies  and  souls  of  men,  they 
rebelled  against  the  ordinance  of  God,  refusing  to 
"  be  subject  to  the  powers  that  be." 


WHAT  IS  SLAVERY?  29 

They  were  prosperous  and  happy  under  the  best 
Government  the  wisdom  of  man  ever  devised,  but 
they  were  not  content.  They  wished  to  carry 
chains  and  slavery  into  new  Territory,  and  to  pro 
pagate  the  curse,  where  it  had  rtever  existed. 
And  because  they  could  not  obtain  a  guaranty, 
from  the  Government,  of  immunity  and  protection, 
in  the  accomplishment  of  the  damnable  purpose, 
they  stained  their  souls  with  the  crime  of  Treason. 
This  is  one  of  the  fruits  of  Slavery  1  "  Every  tree 
shall  be  known  by  its  fruit." 


30 


III. 
ORIGIN  OF  AFRICAN  SLAVERY. 

IP  we  may  place  any  credence  in  the  records  of 
History,  the  first  cargo  of  African  Slaves  was 
landed  and  sold  in  the  island  of  Hispaniola,  or  St. 
Domingo.  A  severe  retribution,  as  written  in  the 
subsequent  history  of  that  island,  followed  this  in 
vasion  of  the  natural  rights  of  man.  Bancroft,  in 
his  inimitable  work,  remarks  ;  "  Hayti,  the  first 
spot  in  America,  that  received  African  Slaves,  was 
the  first  to  set  the  example  of  African  Liberty." 
For  years,  they  have  possessed  and  ruled  the  isl 
and,  an  enterprising  and  independent  people.  The 
tyrants,  who  held  them  in  bondage,  were  put  to 
death,  or  driven  into  exile,  a  significant  display  of 
the  stern  justice  of  Heaven! 

The  first  slaves  sold  in  the  United  States,  then 
English  Colonies,  were  brought  from  Africa,  in  a 
Dutch  Man  of  War,  which  entered  the  mouth  of 
James  river,  in  the  year  1620,  four  months  before 
the  landing  of  the  Puritan  pilgrims,  on  the  rock  of 


ORIGIN  OP  AFEICAN  SLAVERY. 

Plymouth.  So  that,  by  a  singular  coincidence,  the 
vessels  of  the  same  country,  Holland,  brought  both 
the  pilgrims  and  the  slaves,  to  our  shores,  in  the 
course  of  the  same  memorable  year. 

If  we  would  fully  comprehend  the  origin  of 
slavery,  in  our  land,  it  will  be  necessary  to  follow 
the  kidnappers  to  Africa,  and  understand  the  man 
ner  by  which  they  originally  established  their  right 
of  property  in  the  bodies  of  African  men  and 
women.  We  must  not  forget  that  the  claim  of  a 
divine  right  has  been  set  up,  in  this  age  of  progress 
and  ^reform. 

If  the  kidnapper  had  a  Divine  warrant,  or  a 
special  commission  from  Heaven,  to  alight  on  the 
shores  of  Africa,  to  murder   and  capture  the  de 
fenceless  inhabitants,  and  transport   them  to   dis 
tant  shores,  as  slaves,  and  if  they  could  produce 
unquestionable  evidence  that  they  had  such  a  com 
mission,  as  the  Jews  could,  when  commanded  by 
God  to  occupy  the  land  of  Canaan,  we  should  be 
bound  to  pay  some  respect  to  the  claim  set  up 
by  Hie  modern  advocates  of  slavery.    But  I  have 
never  yet  heard  of  any  slave-pirate  or  kidnapper, 
who  even  pretended  that  he  had  such  a  warrant 
or  commission  from   God  Almighty,  to  steal  the 
children  of  Africa,  and  sell  them  into  bondage  1 


32  ORIGIN   OF  AFRICAN  SLAVERY. 

I  have,  however,  heard  of  one  Johnny  Hawkins, 
a  Sir  knight,  and  a  notable  person  in  his  day, 
who  was  the  first  Englishman  who  engaged  in  the 
traffic,  and  enlisted  Queen  Elizabeth  to  protect 
him  in  the  same,  and  to  share  in  the  profits.  But 
how  did  he  obtain  his  right  and  title?  He  tells 
his  own  story.  He  does  not  intimate  that  he  had 
any  commission  from  Heaven.  He  went  to  an 
African  village  of  eight  thousand  inhabitants. 
The  huts  were  covered  with  dry  palm  leaves, 
very  combustible.  He  set  fire  to  these,  which 
were,  soon,  all  in  a  blaze.  In  the  midst  of  the 
terror  and  confusion  that  ensued,  he  captured  two 
hundred  and  fifty  of  the  innocent  natives,  and  had 
them  conveyed,  in  chains,  on  board  of  his  ship. 
This  was  his  first  cargo  to  Hispaniola,  from  which 
he  realized  a  rich  return,  in  sugar,  ginger,  and 
pearls.  The  profits  were  so  immense,  that,  the 
government  of  the  English  nation  resolved  to  en 
gage  in  the  trade.  Bancroft  says  that  the  Sover. 
eign  of  England,  "  participated  in  the  hazards,  the 
profits,  and  the  crimes,  and  became  at  once  a 
smuggler  and  a  slave  merchant."  The  whole  sys 
tem  had  its  foundation  in  crime  and  cupidity. 

The  slaveholders  in  our  Southern  States,  ob 
tained  their  right  to  own  and  hold  these  captured 


ORIGIN   OF  AFRICAN  SLAVERY.  33 

Africans,  as  slaves,  from  Sir  Johnny  Hawkins,  and 
others,  who,  like  him,  stole  them  from  their  native 
country.  If  the  original  kidnappers  had  no  divine 
right  to  this  species  of  property,  it  is  a  question, 
how  those  who  purchased  it  from  them,  have  come 
into  the  possession  of  such  a  right.  If  a  thief  has 
no  valid  right  or  title  to  the  property,  stolen  by 
him,  has  the  man  who  buys  it  of  him,  knowing  it 
to  be  stolen  property,  a  valid  right  or  title  to  the 
same? 

I  know  that,  as  late  as  the  year  1860,  slaves 
were  sold  in  Texas,  Florida,  and,  perhaps,  other 
Southern  States,  brought  by  kidnappers  in  pirate 
ships,  direct  from  Africa,  and,  that  some  of  these 
advocates  for  the  Divine  right  of  slavery,  were 
the  purchasers.  I  am  not  able  to  prefer  any  ac 
cusation  against  Dr.  Palmer,  as  having  been  one 
of  the  number.  But  here  is  a  question  for  him, 
and  all  of  the  same  school  of  divinity,  to  con 
sider  :  If  the  slaves  owned  by  them  at  present,  or 
at  the  time  of  Secession,  were  the  children  or  the 
grand-children  of  those  who  were  kidnapped  in 
Africa,  and  to  whom  the  kidnappers  had  no  other 
claim  than  a  thief  s  title,  on  what  foundation  do 
they  now  set  up  the  claim  of  a  Divine  right? 
God  shall  judge  these  whited  sepulchres!  They 


34  ORIGIN   OP   AFRICAN   SLAVERY. 

find  their  brother  guilty  of  a  skin  not  colored 
like  their  own,  and  they  claim  authority  from 
King  Jesus,  to  put  a  yoke  of  bondage  on  his  neck, 
an  iron  chain  on  his  ankle,  and  to  make  him  their 
slave  for  life  I 


35 

., ,.  „,. 


IV. 
EARLY  OPPOSITION  TO  SLAVERY. 

WE  must  do  justice  to  the  Church  of  Rome,  to 
say,  that  it  has  ever  and  persistently  opposed  the 
institution  of  slavery.     Soon  after  the  discovery 
of  the  New  World,  by  Columbus,  the  Sovereign 
Pontiffs  were  repeatedly  importuned  to  give  their 
sanction,  not  only  to  the  enslavement  of  Africans, 
but  also,  of  the  aboriginal  inhabitants  of  America. 
But   they   never   yielded   to    these   importunities. 
Even  as  early  as  the  twelfth  century,  when  Ma 
hometans   enslaved    Christians,  and  Christians,  in 
turn,  enslaved   Mahometans,  and   slavery  was   all 
but  universal,  Pope  Alexander  III.,  in  the  genu 
ine   spirit   of   Christianity,  wrote,  in   one   of  his 
bulls,  "Nature  having  made  no  Slaves,  all  men  have 
an  equal  right  to  Liberty."     And  after  him,  Pope 
Leo  X.  declared  that,  "not  the  Christian  religion 
only,  but  nature  herself  cries   out   against   the   state 
of  Slavery:'    Another  Pontiff,  Paul  III.,  even  went 


36       EARLY  OPPOSITION  TO  SLAVERY. 

so  far,  as  to  imprecate  the  curse  of  God,  on  Euro 
peans  who  should  enslave  Indians,  or  any  other 
class  of  men.  These  are  facts  which  ought  to  be 
borne  in  mind,  especially  by  slave-holding  Catho 
lics  in  America. 

The  first  ship  which  sailed  from  New  England 
for  the  coast  of  Guinea,  to  trade  for  negroes,  be 
longed  to  two  men  of  Boston,  whose  names  were 
Thomas  Keyser,  and  James  Smith  ;  but  there  was 
such  a  cry  of  indignation,  raised  against  them, 
throughout  the  country,  that  they  were  arrested, 
and  brought  before  a  civil  magistrate,  as  male 
factors  and  murderers.  The  cargo  of  Africans, 
was  ordered  to  be  sent  back  to  their  native 
country,  at  the  public  expense,  with  a  letter,  ex 
pressing  the  indignation  of  the  General  Court,  at 
their  wrongs. 

There  was  no  slavery  in  Georgia,  for  years 
after  it  was  first  settled,  and  after  it  had  been 
introduced  into  the  neighboring  state  of  South 
Carolina.  It  was  excluded,  during  the  life-time 
of  General  Oglethorpe,  the  first  governor,  because 
of  the  earnest  and  determined  opposition  of  that 
wise  and  good  man.  By  the  third  regulation, 
adopted  for  the  government  of  the  colony,  under 
his  superintendence,  slavery  was  absolutely  pro- 


EARLY  OPPOSITION  TO  SLAVERY.  37 

scribed.  Oglethorpe  himself  wrote,  "Slavery  is 
against  the  Gospel,  as  well  as  against  the  funda 
mental  law  of  England.  We  refused  to  make  a  law, 
permitting  such  a  horrid  crime." 

Many  of  the  settlers  earnestly  requested,  that 
the  introduction  of  negroes  might  be  allowed  ; 
and  many  even  prepared  to  desert  the  colony,  de 
claring  that  success  was  impossible  without  them. 
Notwithstanding,  he  sternly  rejected  their  applica 
tions,  saying,  that  he  would  have  nothing  further 
to  do  with  the  colony,  if  negroes  should  be  intro 
duced  into  Georgia.  There  is  not  a  purer  and 
more  unblemished  character,  than  that  of  Ogle 
thorpe,  among  all  those  who  had  any  thing  to  do 
with  the  settlement  of  the  English  colonies  in 
America. 

The  name  which  stands  highest  on  the  roll  of  our 
Country's  fame,  is  that  of  Washington.  He  has 
been  claimed,  as  among  the  friends  and  patrons  of 
the  Institution  of  Slavery.  It  is  true,  it  was  his 
lot  to  have  been  born  in  a  slave  State,  and  to  be 
involved  in  a  connection  with  the  Institution,  by 
circumstances  over  which,  perhaps,  he  had  no  con 
trol.  His  last  will  and  Testament,  shows  how  sin 
cerely  he  desired  the  termination  of  slavery,  in  this 
country.  In  that  will,  this  paragraph  is  contained, 


38      EARLY  OPPOSITION  TO  SLAVERY. 

"upon  the  decease  of  my  wife,  it  is  my  will  and 
desire,  that  all  the  slaves  whom  I  hold  in  my  own 
right,  shall  receive  their  freedom."  The  Will  pro 
ceeds  to  specify,  what  provision  should  be  made  for 
them,  both  before,  and  subsequent  to  the  period  of 
their  manumission ;  and  he  further  enjoins  on  his 
executors,  to  see  to  it,  that  this  clause,  respecting 
his  slaves,  be  religiously  fulfilled  at  the  epoch,  at 
which  it  was  directed  to  take  place,  "without  eva 
sion,  neglect  or  delay." 

If  Washington  was  a  defender  of  the  Institution, 
we  have  only  to  say  it  would  have  been  a  glorious 
thing  for  our  country,  if  all  the  planters  in  the 
Southern  States,  had  been  such  defenders  and  pa 
trons  of  slavery,  as  he  was,  and  had  followed  his 
bright  example.  There  would  have  been  no  divi 
sion  between  the  North  and  the  South.  There 
would  have  been  no  civil  war. 

It  is  known  that  Thomas  Jefferson  was  also  a 
slaveholder.  But  I  am  not  aware  that  he  has  ever 
been  claimed  as  an  advocate  for  the  Institution. 
He  uttered  prophetic  words,  when  on  one  occasion, 
speaking  of  slavery,  he  said,  "I  tremble  for  my 
country,  when  I  remember  that  God  is  just ! "  If  it 
was  a  prediction  how  fearfully  it  has  been  accom 
plished  ! 


EARLY  OPPOSITION  TO  SLAVERY.  39 

Jefferson  penned  the  immortal  document,  which 
contains  the  declaration  of  our  National  Independ 
ence,  and,  we  may  suppose,  that  he  expresses  his 
own  honest  convictions,  on  the  subject  of  slavery, 
in  that  complaint  against  the  British  Government, 
in  which  he  says :  "  He  [the  King  of  England]  has 
waged  cruel  war  against  human  nature,  violating 
its  most  sacred  rights  of  life  and  liberty,  in  the  per 
sons  of  a  distant  people,  who  never  offended  him, 
captivating  and  carrying  them  into  slavery  in  an 
other  hemisphere,  or  to  incur  a  miserable  death  in 
their  transportation  thither.  This  piratical  war 
fare,  the  opprobrium  of  infidel  powers,  is  the  war 
fare  of  the  Christian  King  of  Great  Britain,  to  keep 
open  a  market  where  men  should  be  bought  and 
sold." 

Jefferson  did  not  profess  to  be  a  Christian  ;  yet, 
if  he  had  written  under  the  influence  of  Inspiration, 
we  know  not  whether  he  could  have  drawn  a  more 
vivid  picture  of  the  horrors  of  the  slave  trade.  The 
same  eminent  statesman,  also  wrote  to  the  planters 
of  the  south,  saying,  that  they  must  emancipate  their 
slaves,  or  "  that  something  worse  would  follow." 

It  is  known  that  he  drew  up  the  plan  of  a  consti 
tution  for  his  native  state,  providing  for  the  grad 
ual  extinction  of  slavery,  but  it  was  never  adopted. 


40       EARLY  OPPOSITION  TO  SLAVERY. 

He  was  not  a  Christian,  but  he  was  a  patriot,  and 
he  has  been  called  the  "  Father  of  the  American 
Democracy."  He  had  studied  deeply  the  principles 
of  human  jurisprudence,  and  the  essential  laws  of 
right  and  wrong,  and  viewing  slavery  from  that 
stand-point  alone,  he  saw  and  pronounced  it  a  cruel 
warfare  against  human  nature  itself,  and  a  viola 
tion  of  its  most  sacred  rights. 

I  will  here,  adduce  the  testimony  of  another  emi 
nent  son  of  Virginia,  against  the  institution  of 
slavery,  viz.,  John  Randolph,  of  Roanoke.  It  was 
not  the  influence  of  Christianity,  which  made  him 
strike  the  fetters  from  the  limbs  of  four  hundred 
bondmen,  and  put  them  in  posession  of  the  sweets 
of  liberty.  But,  he  felt  himself  constrained  to  this 
act  of  Justice,  by  that  innate  sense  of  justice,  which,  I 
believe  the  Lord  of  the  Universe,  has  implanted  in 
every  heart.  And  though  he  performed  this  act  of 
justice,  only  when  he  was  about  to  leave  the  world, 
and  had  deferred,  for  a  time,  the  doing  of  so  just  a 
deed,  yet  the  fact  that  he  had  deliberately  made  up 
his  mind  to  do  it  at  all,  and  at  last  carried  out  the 
intention,  tells,  more  unequivocally  than  any  words 
he  could  have  made  use  of,  in  what  light  he 
viewed  slavery.  What  is  the  reason  the  people 
of  Virginia  have  never  paid  any  attention  to  the 


EARLY   OPPOSITION  TO  SLAVEEY.  41 

lesson  taught  by  his  example?  They  feel  a  just 
pride  in  the  memory  of  their  Washingtons,  their 
Jeffersons,  their  Clays,  and  their  Randolphs  ;  but 
ah  1  they  heed  not  the  voice  of  their  words,  nor  the 
lesson  of  their  example,  no  more  than  if  they  had 
been  the  most  ordinary  among  men. 

In  vain,  we  search  the  records  of  the  early  his 
tory  of  our  country,  to  find  the  name  of  one, 
among  those  who  stood  high  as  patriots,  philan 
thropists,  or  statesmen,  who  was  known,  or  was 
willing  to  be  known,  as  the  champion  of  slavery. 

The  first  sentence  in  that  incomparable  docu 
ment,  the  Declaration  of  American  Independence, 
asserts  this  great  and  universal  truth,  "that  God 
created  all  men  free  and  equal,  and  endowed  them 
with  certain  inalienable  rights,  among  which  are 
life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness."  This 
acknowledged  truth,  is  the  main  pillar  that  sup 
ports,  and  will  support  the  temple  of  our  Ameri 
can  freedom.  It  is  because  we  did  not  understand 
this  principle,  as  our  forefathers  understood  it, 
that  discord  has  reigned,  of  late,  and  that  glori 
ous  temple  has  been  shaken  to  its  deep  founda 
tions,  and  well  nigh  overwhelmed  in  a  mass  of 
ruins. 

We  thank  the  authors  and  framers  of  that  boast- 


42  EARLY  OPPOSITION  TO  SLAVERY. 

ed  Constitution,  under  which  we  have  so  long  lived 
and  flourished,  as  a  nation,  for  not  inserting  the 
terms,  " slaves"  and  "Slavery"  in  that  great  magna 
charta  of  human  liberty.  In  shaping  and  perfect 
ing  that  noble  instrument,  why  did  they  avoid  the 
use  of  the  term,  Slavery?  Evidently,  because  the 
thing  itself  signified  by  the  term,  was  perceived, 
by  them,  to  be  utterly  repugnant  to  the  principles 
of  a  free  government.  Freedom  and  slavery  are 
antagonistic  ideas,  and  the  logical  mind,  that  has 
fully  comprehended  and  embraced  the  one,  must 
reject  the  other.  They  had  a  conscience,  and  that 
conscience  revolted  at  the  thought  of  taking  the 
hideous  form  of  slavery  within  their  embrace,  under 
the  assumed  name  of  freedom.  They  had  a  pre 
sentiment  that  the  enlightened  nations  of  the 
world  would  hiss  at  them,  for  affecting  to  lay  the 
foundations  of  the  most  free  and  republican  gov 
ernment  on  earth,  and  yet,  denying  to  a  portion 
of  the  inhabitants,  every  natural  and  political  right 
of  man.  And,  though  they  found  the  evil  exist 
ing,  and  felt  compelled  to  make  concessions  in 
favor  of  those  who  held  men  as  property,  they 
were  not  willing  to  let  that  great  charter  of  a 
nation's  rights  be  marred  or  deformed  by  the 
word  slavery.  And  again,  we  thank  them,  for 


EARLY  OPPOSITION  TO   SLAVERY.  43 

not  permitting  any  such  blot  on  that  paper,  which 
they  drew  up  and  signed,  as  the  guarantee  of  all 
our  rights  and  freedom,  in  all  time  to  come.  The 
American  Constitution  cannot  be  said  to  recog 
nize  slavery.  The  authors  of  it,  cautiously  and 
designedly  kept  the  word  out ;  and,  as  words  are 
the  signs  of  ideas,  they  kept  out,  and  meant  to 
keep  out  the  thing  signified  by  it. 

Still,  we  are  ready  to  admit,  that,  for  the  sake 
of  harmony,  the  framers  of  that  document,  did 
enter  into  a  kind  of  tacit  compromise,  in  favor 
of  the  accursed  institution.  And,  God  in  Heaven 
knows,  that,  if  they  were  living  now,  they  would 
shed  bitter,  scalding  tears,  at  the  recollection  of 
the  deed.  The  Almighty  himself  cancels  the  deed, 
and  the  disgrace  of  it  is  wiped  out  in  a  nation's 
blood ! 


44 


Y. 
THE  MIDDLE  PASSAGE. 

IT  has  been  estimated,  that,  during  the  three 
hundred  years  of  the  existence  of  slavery,  more 
than  forty  millions  of  the  children  of  Africa,  have 
been  brought,  in  slave-ships,  to  the  shores  of  the 
new  world,  and  sold  into  bondage.  This  does  not 
include  the  number  of  those  who  were  murdered 
in  the  capture,  or  died  in  the  passage  across  the 
ocean.  It  has  been  said  by  those  who  had  the 
means  of  knowing,  that  the  latter  number  exceeds 
the  former.  But,  supposing  the  numbers  to  be 
equal,  Africa  has  lost  eighty  millions  of  her  peo 
ple,  who  have  been  made  an  offering  on  the  altar 
of  the  slave-god.  Of  these  eighty  millions,  ten 
millions,  or  one-eighth  of  the  whole,  are  all  that 
remain  in  existence.  To  this  waste  of  human  life, 
should  be  added  the  loss  of  the  natural  increase, 
under  the  rigors  of  bondage.  It  is  known  that 
the  race  is  prolific,  and  under  a  mild  system, 


THE  MIDDLE  PASSAGE.  45 

founded  on  the  natural  principles  of  humanity,  the 
forty  millions  transported  to  this  country,  ought 
to  have  doubled  itself  two  or  three  times  in  the 
course  of  three  centuries.  If  the  laws  of  in 
crease,  from  ordinary  generation,  had  been  in  no 
wise  hindered  or  checked,  by  the  cruelty  of  the 
slave  system,  instead  of  ten  millions,  there  must 
have  been  on  this  continent,  at  the  present  mo 
ment,  in  round  numbers,  a  population  of  at  least 
one  hundred  millions  of  Africans !  It  is  fair, 
therefore,  to  put  down  the  one  hundred  millions, 
as  the  sacrifice  of  human  life  that  has  been  made 
to  this  infernal  system !  Think  of  this,  0  ye 
Christians  of  the  Free  States!  who  are  pleading 
with  the  Government,  and  pleading,  in  your  hearts, 
with  God  Almighty,  to  spare  the  system,  and  who 
are  bitterly  denouncing  the  Government,  because 
they  have  interfered  with  this  social  and  domestic 
institution  of  their  Southern  brethren ! 

A  few  years  ago,  Lord  Palmerston  in  the  House 
of  Lords,  said  : 

"According  to  the  report  of  Messrs.  Vender- 
welt  and  Buxton,  from  120,000  to  150,000  slaves 
are  landed  annually  in  America.  It  is  calculated, 
that,  of  three  negroes,  seized  in  the  interior  of 
Africa,  to  be  sent  into  slavery,  but  one  reaches 


46  THE  MIDDLE  PASSAGE. 

his  destination,  the  two  others  die  in  the  conrse 
of  the  operations  of  the  slave-trade.  Whatever 
may  be  the  number  transported,  we  must  triple 
it  to  obtain  the  true  number  of  human  beings, 
whom  this  detestable  traffic  kidnaps  every  year 
from  Africa. 

"  Indeed,  the  negroes  destined  for  the  slave- 
trade,  are  not  taken  from  the  neighborhood,  where 
they  are  embarked.  A  great  number  come  from 
the  interior.  Many  are  captives,  made  in  wars 
excited  by  thirst  for  the  gain  procured  by  the 
sale  of  the  prisoners.  But  the  greatest  number 
arise  from  kidnapping  expeditions,  and  an  organ 
ized  system  of  man-stealing,  in  the  interior  of 
Africa.  When  the  time  approaches  to  set  out 
with  the  slave  caravans  for  the  coast,  the  kidnap 
pers  surround  a  peaceful  village  at  midnight,  set 
it  on  fire,  and  seize  on  the  inhabitants,  killing  all 
who  resist.  If  the  village  attacked,  is  situated 
on  a  mountain,  offering  greater  facilities  for  flight, 
and  the  inhabitants  take  refuge  in  the  caverns, 
the  kidnappers  kindle  large  fires  at  the  entrance, 
and  those  who  are  sheltered  there,  placed  between 
death  by  suffocation  and  slavery,  are  forced  to 
give  themselves  up.,  If  the  fugitive  take  refuge 
on  the  heights,  the  assailants  render  themselves 


THE  MIDDLE  PASSAGE.  47 

masters  of  all  the  springs  and  wells,  and  the  un 
fortunates,  devoured  by  thirst,  return  to  truckle 
their  liberty  for  life.  The  prisoners  made,  they 
proceed  to  the  choice.  The  robust  individuals  of 
both  sexes,  and  the  children  from  six  to  seven 
years  old,  are  set  aside  to  form  part  of  the  cara 
van  which  is  to  be  driven  to  the  sea-shore.  They 
rid  themselves  of  the  children  under  six  years 
of  age,  by  killing  them  on  the  spot,  and  aban 
don  the  aged  and  infirm,  thus  condemning  them 
to  die  of  hunger.  The  caravan  sets  out,  men, 
women  and  children  traverse  the  burning  sands, 
and  rocky  defiles  of  the  mountains  of  Africa, 
barefoot,  and  almost  naked.  The  feeble  are  stim 
ulated  by  the  whip,  the  strong  are  secured  by 
chaining  them  together,  or  by  placing  them  under 
a  yoke.  Many  fall  from  exhaustion  on  the  road, 
and  die,  or  become  the  prey  of  wild  beasts.  On 
reaching  the  sea-shore,  they  are  penned  up  and 
crowded  together  in  buildings,  called  barracoons, 
where  they  fall  a  prey  to  epidemics.  Death  has 
often  cruelly  thinned  their  ranks  before  the  arri 
val  of  a  slave-trader.  The  first  who  appears 
takes  his  choice,  setting  aside  the  sick  and  fee 
ble,  and  taking  care  always  to  take  one-third  or, 
at  least,  one-fourth  more  than  his  vessel  can  hold, 


48  THE  MIDDLE  PASSAGE. 

and  this,  according  to  a  mathematical  calculation, 
for  the  same  reason,  that  casks  are  put  into  a 
vessel  loaded  with  wine,  designed  to  compensate 
for  the  loss  which  will  result  from  evaporation, 
or  leakage  ;  for  the  captain  knows  perfectly  well, 
that  a  large  number  of  the  negroes  of  his  cargo 
will  perish,  some  from  grief,  others  from  the  change 
of  diet,  and  many  from  Asphyxia. 

"  They  do  not,  always,  wait  until  the  dying  are 
dead,  to  cast  them  into  the  sea,  but  sometimes 
throw  them  overboard,  as  soon  as  they  are  hope 
less." 

Lord  Palmerston  then  gives  an  incident  of  the 
kind  which  happened  in  1738.  "  A  man,  named 
Collingwood  was  carrying  slaves  to  Jamaica ;  the 
ship  took  a  wrong  course,  and  water  and  pro 
visions  became  scanty.  Knowing,  that,  if  the 
negroes  died  of  famine,  the  owners  would  lose 
the  insurance  on  them,  while  they  would  be  en 
titled  to  this  premium,  if  it  were  proved,  that 
he  had  been  compelled,  by  the  perils  of  the  sea, 
to  sacrifice  the  cargo,  the  captain  did  not  hesi 
tate  to  precipitate  one  hundred  and  thirty-two 
living  beings  into  the  waves." 

The  distinguished  orator  then  draws  a  descrip 
tion  of  a  negro  slave-ship,  and  quotes  the  words 


THE  MIDDLE  PASSAGE.  49 

of  a  man  who  had  seen  one  of  these  vessels,  "a 
negro  has  not  as  much  room  in  them  as  a  corpse 
in  a  coffin." 

From  all  these  things,  the  noble  lord  draws 
the  conclusion,  that,  if  one  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  slaves  land  annually  in  America,  the 
slave-trade  carries  away  from  Africa,  three  or 
four  hundred  thousands  souls.  According  to  him, 
"  all  the  crimes  of  the  human  race,  from  the  crea 
tion  of  the  world,  to  our  days,  do  not  exceed 
those  which  have  been  caused  by  the  slave- 
trade." 

Bancroft,  one  of  the  most  impartial  historians, 
says,  of  the  middle  passage:  "The  horrors  of 
the  passage,  corresponded  with  the  infamy  of 
the  trade.  Small  vessels,  of  little  more  than 
two  hundred  tons  burden,  were  prepared  for  the 
traffic,  for  these  could  most  easily  penetrate  the 
bays  and  rivers  of  the  coast,  and  quickly  ob 
taining  a  lading,  could  soonest  hurry  away  from 
the  deadly  air  of  Western  Africa.  In  such  a 
bark,  five  hundred  negroes  and  more  have  been 
stowed,  exciting  wonder  that  men  could  have 
lived,  within  the  tropics,  cribbed  in  so  few 
inches  of  room.  The  inequality  of  force  be 
tween  the  crew  and  the  cargo  led  to  the  use 


50 


THE   MIDDLE   PASSAGE. 


of  manacles ;  the  hands  of  the  stronger  men, 
were  made  fast  together,  and  the  right  leg  of 
one  was  chained  to  the  left  of  another.  The 
avarice  of  the  trader  was  a  partial  guarantee 
of  the  security  of  life,  as  far  as  it  depended  on 
him ;  but  death  hovered  always  over  the  slave 
ship.  The  negroes,  as  they  came  from  the  higher 
level  to  the  sea-side,  poorly  fed  on  the  sad  pil 
grimage,  sleeping  at  night  on  the  damp  earth, 
without  covering,  and  often  reaching  the  coast  at 
unfavorable  seasons,  imbibed  the  seeds  of  disease, 
which  confinement  on  board  ship  quickened  into 
feverish  activity.  There  have  been  examples 
where  one  half  of  them,  it  has  been  said,  even, 
where  two-thirds  of  them,  perished  on  the  pas 
sage  ! " 

The  heart  is  made  sick  in  reading  such  recitals ! 
Can  it  be  that  those  who  claim  to  be  called  chris- 
tians,  approve  and  sanction  such  a  trade?  which 
Jefferson  did  not  hesitate  to  stigmatize  as  "an 
execrable  commerce"  "  a  piratical  warfare"  "  the 
opprobrium  of  infidel  powers"  and  "  an  assemblage 
of  horrors"!  Yea,  some  of  the  most  learned 
divines  among  our  Southern  brethren,  (!)  pre 
tend  to  have  a  celestial  warrant  to  hold  their 
colored  brethren  in  chains,  to  keep  open  a  mar- 


THE  MIDDLE  PASSAGE.  51 


ket  for  the  sale  and  purchase  of  slaves,  and  to 
send  the  pirate  ships  annually  on  their  dark  way, 
to  rob  poor  Africa,  and  obtain  more  victims  ! 

I  have  never  read  a  complete  journal  of  any 
slave-ship,  with  her  cargo,  across  the  Atlantic. 
It  has  been  said  that  no  such  journal  has  ever 
been  published.  If  such  a  record  had  been  kept 
and  published,  in  all  its  details,  it  would,  doubt 
less,  have  been  a  record  of  instructive  interest, 
especially  to  the  friends  of  the  cause  of  slavery. 

I  can  imagine  that  human  genius  would  fail, 
in  the  attempt  to  give  a  just  and  vivid  concep 
tion  of  the  whole  panorama  on  board  of  such 
a  vessel,  during  the  middle  passage.  It  would 
take  a  pen,  self-endowed  with  the  mysterious  and 
magical  property  of  painting  life-like  pictures. 
Suppose  they  are  heathens  or  savages,  who  are 
chained  and  crammed  together  in  the  hold  of 
the  ship,  without  sufficient  light  and  air,  naked 
and  almost  suffocated  in  the  stench  of  human 
ordure  and  dead  bodies  ;  they  are  still  human 
beings,  endowed  with  the  feelings  of  humanity. 
They  had  a  country,  and  they  have  been  torn 
away  from  that  country.  They  had  human  affec 
tions,  and  they  have  been  rudely  separated  from 
the  embrace  of  all  they  loved.  They  are  going 


52  THE  MIDDLE  PASSAGE. 

to  be  slaves  in  a  country  they  never  saw — their 
hearts  are  broke! 

Many  die  from  grief,  many  from  suffocation, 
many  from  disease  caused  by  the  noisome  atmos 
phere.  They  are  human  beings,  and,  of  neces 
sity,  many  must  perish.  Could  feeble  humanity 
bear  up  under  such  accumulated  sufferings,  and 
yet  survive?  They  die!  the  more  sensitive  and 
nervously  constituted,  fortunately  for  them !  Hap 
py  they!  whom  the  sea  opens  its  friendly  bosom 
to  receive,  and  afford  them  repose  from  the 
tyranny  and  cruelty  of  man!  Happy  they!  who 
die  of  a  broken  heart,  murdered  by  men  pro 
fessing  to  be  civilized !  Millions  are  thus  slum 
bering  in  their  watery  beds.  The  great  and 
beneficent  Father  of  all,  has  their  broken  hearts 
safe  in  His  keeping.  The  sea  will  disclose  its 
dead,  and  those  innocent  and  outraged  children 
[of  our  common  Father,  will  meet  the  slave-ty 
rants  at  the  last,  face  to  face!  I  believe  it! 
I  am  thankful  for  this  Christian  faith!  If  there 
is  not  a  hell,  there  ought  to  be  one ! 


53 


VI. 
THE  LAST   CRIME   OF  SLAVERY. 

AT  the  lowest  estimate  which  can  be  made, 
this  civil  war,  by  the  time  it  shall  be  ended, 
will  have  cost  the  whole  country,  North  and 
South,  four  thousand  millions  of  money,  one  mil 
lion  of  valuable  lives,  and  a  badge  of  mourning 
hung  on  nearly  half  the  dwellings  in  the  land. 
These  are  some  of  the  fruits  of  the  grand  rebel 
lion — and  the  cause  of  all  is  slavery ! 

There  are  copperhead  patriots— thanks  to  him 
who  first  suggested  a  name  so  appropriate — who 
set  themselves  up  as  the  apologists  of  slavery, 
and  ascribe  the  war  to  the  agitations  of  aboli 
tionists,  and  other  causes.  I  would  make  no 
appeal  to  their  reason.  I  desire  no  discussion 
with  them.  There  are  none  so  blind  as  those 
who  will  not  see.  They  are  traitors  at  heart, 
less  excusable  than  armed  rebels  at  the  South, 
and  deserving  of  a  severer  punishment.  They 


54        THE  LAST  CRIME  OP  SLAVERY. 

are  not  the  friends  of  the  Union.  They  appre 
ciate  not  the  blessings  of  a  republican  form  of 
government.  They  cannot  prize  the  advantages 
and  the  benign  institutions  of  civil  liberty,  for 
the  sake  of  what  liberty  is,  intrinsically,  in  it 
self — and  let  them  continue  to  bow  down,  and 
demean,  as  they  have  done,  their  pitiful  souls,  at 
the  shrine  of  a  low  and  contemptible  personal 
ambition.  The  Vallandighams  and  Seymours  of 
the  North  will  get  their  reward,  in  the  execra 
tions  of  their  children,  in  the  next  generation, 
if  not  sooner. 

Look  at  that  strutting  congressman  from  South 
Carolina,  the  land  of  chivalry,  par  excellence. 
He  thinks  he  can  frighten  and  awe  into  submis 
sive  silence,  by  his  blustering  and  bravado,  half 
the  numbers  from  the  free  States.  He  grew  up 
from  childhood  with  that  disposition.  The  spirit 
began  to  run  in  his  hot  blood  very  early,  and 
was  quickened  into  a  wonderful  degree  of  ce 
lerity,  by  the  training  which  he  received. 

That  congressman  was  a  slave-driver,  with  a 
whip  in  his  hand,  from  the  time  he  was  four 
years  of  age.  This  is  the  way,  and  there  is  no 
mystery  about  it,  that  the  children  of  all  masters 
become  bold  and  brave,  and  very  chivalrous  in- 


THE  LAST    CRIME   OF   SLAVERY.  55 

deed.  You  will  see  young  masters  on  nearly 
every  plantation,  who,  from  the  time  they  begin 
to  wear  trowsers,  strut  about  with  whip  in  hand, 
a  terror  to  all  the  young  darkies  on  the  lordly 
domain.  If  any  should  come  in  his  way,  crack 
goes  the  whip,  and  away  go  the  young  negroes, 
panic-stricken,  and  young  master  is  already  a 
young  hero.  This  is  the  training  they  receive. 
And  why  should  they  not  grow  up  to  be  knights 
of  chivalry  of  the  first  order?  A  man  is  what 
he  is  made  to  be,  whether  he  is  made  right  or 
wrong.  We  all  know  the  truth  of  the  poetic 
maxim, 

"'Tis  education  forms  the  common  mind, 
Just  as  the  twig  is  bent,  the  tree's  inclined." 

The  young  scions  of  chivalry  are  trained  to 
be  slave-drivers — and,  tyrants  by  nature,  this  in 
nate  disposition  is  strengthened  and  developed 
by  the  whole  course  of  training  which  they  re 
ceive  in  early  life — and  how  can  they  depart 
from  it,  when  they  are  old  ?  How  can  they  be 
any  thing  else  but  tyrants,  when  they  become 
grown  men  and  women? 

I  have  seen  these  young  shoots  of  aristocracy 
in  the  common  school,  and  I  have  seen  them  in 


56  THE   LAST   CRIME  OF   SLAVERY. 

colleges  at  the  North  and  at  the  South,  and 
every  teacher  has  to  deplore  the  fact,  that,  as 
a  class,  they  lack  the  spirit  of  subordination,  and, 
with  rare  exceptions,  exhibit  a  domineering  dispo 
sition,  which  may  be  said  to  be  peculiar  to  the 
boys  of  the  South. 

There  is  hardly  a  faculty  of  any  college  in 
the  free  States,  where  there  are  ten  or  twenty 
young  men  from  the  South,  who  would  not  testify, 
if  called  on,  that  the  management  and  control 
of  these  ten  or  twenty  sons  of  chivalry,  gives 
them  more  trouble  than  all  the  rest  of  the  stu 
dents  in  college.  But  still,  they  are  the  sons  of 
wealthy  planters,  and  usually  bring  a  good  deal 
of  spending  money,  and  they  must  bear  some 
with  their  freaks  and  waywardness. 

This  is  the  beginning  of  that  demoralizing  in 
fluence,  which  slavery  has  on  every  mind,  that 
comes  in  contact  with  it.  The  children  are  edu 
cated  and  trained  up  to  be  tyrants,  and  the 
effects  are  visible  in  every  department  and  sphere 
of  life,  where  they  are  called  to  act.  In  the 
national  congress,  their  members  bully  and  brow 
beat  the  members  from  the  free  States,  and,  as 
long  as  they  can  domineer  over  them,  and  con 
trol  the  action  of  congress,  they  are  content  to 


THE   LAST   CRIME   OP   SLAVERY.  57 

stay  in  the  Union.  But  the  very  moment  they 
are  outvoted,  and  lose  the  ascendency  in  the  halls 
of  congress,  they  refuse  to  be  any  longer  subject 
to  the  Government,  and  resolve  to  set  up  another 
Government,  which  they  can  manage  or  control 
for  themselves.  In  short,  wherever  a  body  of 
slave-holders  is  to  be  found,  they  must  be  the 
ruling  power.  And  it  would  be  just  as  absurd 
to  expect  them  to  submit  to  the  voice  of  the 
majority  in  a  free  Government,  when  that  voice 
is  pronounced  by  the  people  at  large,  as  to  ex 
pect  them  to  relinquish  their  mastership  over 
their  own  slaves,  and  submit  to  be  governed  by 
those  slaves  in  turn. 

But  the  demoralizing  effect  of  slavery  on  the 
Southern  mind,  does  not  terminate  here.  The 
lordly  master  looks  down,  as  it  were,  from  an 
eminence,  on  the  laboring  classes  as  a  servile  and 
inferior  population.  Labor  is,  in  itself,  a  badge 
of  servility  and  inferiority.  I  do  most  positively 
affirm,  after  a  residence  of  thirty  years  in  the 
slave-States,  that  this  is  the  light  in  which  labor 
is  regarded.  The  troops  of  General  Butler  had 
not  been  a  week  in  New  Orleans,  before  it  was 
quite  common  for  these  young  sprigs  of  aris- 


58  THE  LAST   CRIME   OF   SLAVERY. 

tocracy,  male  and  female,  to  taunt  the  Yankee 
soldiers  with  their  plebeian  origin. 

Negroes  must  work.  They  were  made  for 
that.  They  are  fit  for  nothing  else.  They  are 
an  inferior  race.  This  is  the  mode  in  which 
masters  reason,  and  the  inference  is  unavoida 
ble — labor  is  a  sign  of  degradation. 

The  son  of  a  slave-holder  does  not  labor,  and 
he  would  think  himself  degraded  indeed,  if  he 
were  reduced  to  the  necessity  of  having  to  work 
for  his  living. 

The  son  of  a  planter  might  be  an  overseer,  or 
a  negro-driver,  and  he  would  not  be  degraded  ; 
but  if  he  should  learn  a  mechanical  trade,  and 
should  work  at  that  trade  to  earn  a  livelihood, 
he  would  be  inevitably  excluded  from  the  upper 
class  of  society.  They  occupy  a  position  so  pre 
eminently  exalted  above  that  of  the  slaves,  that 
they  cannot  consent  to  be  placed,  in  any  sense, 
on  a  level  with  them.  But  to  do,  from  necessity, 
the  work  of  common  laborers,  is  to  put  them 
selves  in  a  condition  so  similar  to  that  of  the 
slaves,  that  they  look  on  it  as  a  state  of  degra 
dation. 

To  give  a  clear  and  just  conception  of  the  pre 
vailing  sentiment,  at  the  South,  on  this  subject,  I 


THE  LAST   CRIME   OF    SLAVERY.  59 

deem  it  expedient  to  quote  a  few  sentences  from 
several  of  their  standard  authors.  Chancellor 
Harper  says  : 

"  In  our  own  country,  look  at  the  lower  valley 
of  the  Mississippi,  which  is  capable  of  being 
made  a  far  greater  Egypt.  In  our  own  state, 
there  are  extensive  tracts  of  the  most  fertile 
soil,  which  are  capable  of  being  made  to  swarm 
with  life.  These  are,  at  present,  pestilential 
swamps,  and  valueless,  because  there  is  abun 
dance  of  other  soil  in  more  favorable  situations, 
which  demand  all,  and  more  than  all  the  labor 
which  our  country  can  supply.  Are  these  re 
gions  of  fertility  to  be  abandoned  at  once,  and 
forever,  to  the  alligator  and  tortoise — with  here 
and  there  perhaps,  a  miserable,  shivering,  crouch 
ing,  free  black  savage?  Does  not  the  finger  of 
Heaven  itself  point  to  a  race  of  men,  not  to  be 
enslaved  by  us,  but  already  enslaved,  and  who 
will  be  in  every  way  benefitted  by  the  change 
of  masters — to  whom  such  climate  is  not  uncon 
genial,  who,  though  disposed  to  indolence,  are  yet 
patient,  and  capable  of  labor,  on  whose  whole 
features,  mind  and  character,  nature  has  indel 
ibly  written — slave — and  indicate  that  we  should 
avail  ourselves  of  these,  in  fulfilling  the  first 


60        THE  LAST  CRIME  OF  SLAVERY. 

great  command  to  subdue  and  replenish  the 
earth." 

The  last  line  in  the  above  paragraph  is  an  at 
tempt  to  quote  scripture,  but  it  is  both  misquoted 
and  misapplied.  The  sentence  pronounced  on 
man,  was,  "In  the  sweat  of  thy  face,  shalt  thou 
eat  bread  till  thou  return  unto  the  ground ;  for 
out  of  it  wast  thou  taken  ;  for  dust  thou  art,  and 
unto  dust  shalt  thou  return.  Therefore  the  Lord 
God  sent  him  forth  from  the  garden  of  Eden,  to 
till  the  ground  from  whence  he  was  taken." 

Now,  whom  did  the  Lord  send  forth,  to  till  the 
ground?  Was  it  the  slave,  or  was  it  the  slave's 
master?  Inspiration  teaches  that  it  was  the  man. 
Who  is  meant  by  the  man?  The  advocates  of 
slavery  are  scarcely  willing  to  admit  that  the 
slave  is  a  man.  We  ought  therefore  to  conclude 
that  it  was  the  slave's  master  who  was  doomed, 
when  driven  from  paradise,  to  eat  his  bread  in 
the  sweat  of  his  face. 

Chancellor  Harper  would  have  expressed  his 
meaning  better,  if  he  had  said  that  the  first 
great  command  was  to  subdue  and  enslave  a 
portion  of  Adam's  children,  that  we  might  avail 
ourselves  of  their  labor,  to  subdue  and  replenish 
the  swampy  districts  abandoned  to  the  alligator 


THE  LAST   CRIME   OF  SLAVERY.  61 

and  tortoise.  Thus  the  slave  would  fulfil  the 
curse,  but  the  master  would  escape  it.  Was  this 
the  intention  of  Infinite  Wisdom,  when  the  sen 
tence  was  uttered?  If  so,  what  fate,  may  we 
infer,  was  in  reserve  for  the  master  ?  Let  us 
hear  what  the  same  writer  says  on  this  point: 

"The  agriculturist  or  tiller  of  the  soil,  who 
can  command  no  labor  but  that  of  his  own 
hands,  or  that  of  his  family,  must  remain  com 
paratively  poor  and  rude.  He  who  acquires 
wealth  by  the  labor  of  slaves,  has  the  means  of 
improvement  for  himself  and  his  children.  He 
may  have  a  more  extended  intercourse,  and,  con 
sequently,  means  of  information  and  refinement, 
and  may  seek  education  for  his  children,  where 
it  may  be  found." 

Now  let  us  look  at  the  plain,  unvarnished 
meaning  of  this  brief  passage.  The  slave-holder 
is  not  to  labor — not  to  till  the  ground  with  his 
own  hands.  He  is  to  acquire  his  wealth  by  the 
labor  of  slaves — that  he  may  have  the  means  of 
improvement  for  himself  and  children — that  he 
may  have  the  means  of  information  and  refine 
ment — and  may  be  able  to  educate  his  children 
in  the  schools  of  Europe,  or  wherever  education 
may  be  found.  This  was  to  be  the  employment 


62  THE  LAST   CRIME   OF    SLAVERY. 

of  the  master  and  his  children — not  to  toil — not 
to  earn  his  bread  in  the  sweat  of  his  face !  But 
here  is  a  passage  still  more  explicit,  from  tho 
same  distinguished  writer. 

"It  is  by  the  existence  of  slavery,  exempting 
so  large  a  portion  of  our  citizens  from  the  ne 
cessity  of  bodily  labor,  that  we  have  a  greater 
proportion  than  any  other  people,  who  have  leisure 
for  intellectual  pursuits,  and  the  means  of  obtain 
ing  a  liberal  education."  Aye,  they  were  exempt 
ed  from  the  necessity  of  bodily  labor,  but  it  was 
done  in  contravention  of  the  fiat  of  the  Al 
mighty. 

Again,  the  same  author  observes — "It  is  bet 
ter  that  a  part  should  be  fully  and  highly  cul 
tivated,  and  the  rest  utterly  ignorant."  It  is  diffi 
cult  to  imagine  that  even  one  of  South  Carolina's 
most  gifted  sons,  should  ever  have  penned  such 
a  sentence.  But  here  is  still  another  choice  par 
agraph  from  the  same  pen. 

"  We  must  avail  ourselves  of  such  labor  as 
we  can  command.  The  slave  must  labor,  and  is 
inured  to  it ;  while  the  necessity  of  energy  in 
his  government,  of  watchfulness,  and  of  prepara 
tion  and  power  to  suppress  insurrection,  added 
to  the  moral  force  derived  from  the  habit  of  com- 


THE  LAST  CRIME  OF  SLAVERY.        63 

mand,  may  help  to  prevent  the  degeneracy  of  the 
master." 

What  a  lofty  mission  is  assigned  to  the  mas 
ter!  It  is  his  to  watch  the  slave — to  be  ever 
ready  to  suppress  insurrections.  And  he  must  ac 
quire  the  habit  of  command,  and,  therefore,  he  can 
not  degenerate  for  want  of  employment.  What 
a  noble  mission  is  his!  He  can  well  afford  to 
look  down  from  his  high  position,  on  the  com 
mon  herd  of  drivelling  laborers,  and  tillers  of  the 
ground. 

Governor  Hammond,  of  the  same  illustrious  State, 
says  ;  "  It  is  impossible  to  suppose  that  slavery  is 
contrary  to  the  will  of  God."  "I  think,  then, 
I  may  safely  conclude,  and  I  firmly  believe  that 
American  slavery  is  not  only  not  a  sin.  but  es 
pecially  commanded  by  God,  through  Moses,  and 
approved  by  Christ,  through  His  apostles."  "I 
endorse,  without  reserve,  that  much-abused  senti 
ment  of  Governor  McDuffie,  that  slavery  is  the 
corner-stone  of  our  republican  edifice,  while  I  re 
pudiate,  as  ridiculously  absurd,  that  much-lauded, 
but  nowhere  accredited,  dogma  of  Mr.  Jefferson, 
that  "  all  men  are  born  equal."  And  here  is  what 
the  same  distinguished  orator  says  about  the  la 
boring  classes  in  free  countries : 


64        THE  LAST  CRIME  OF  SLAVERY. 

"I  affirm,  that,  in  Great  Britain,  the  poor  and 
laboring  classes  of  your  race  and  color,  not  only 
your  fellow  beings,  but  your  fellow  citizens,  are 
more  miserable  and  degraded,  morally  and  physi 
cally,  than  our  slaves ;  to  be  elevated  to  the 
actul  condition  of  whom,  would  be,  to  these,  your 
fellow  citizens,  a  most  glorious  act  of  emancipa 
tion." 

By  this,  he  intended  to  say,  that,  if  these  la 
boring  classes  of  Britain,  could  be  sold  to  South 
ern  slave-holders,  and  compelled  to  labor,  under 
task-masters,  like  Southern  slaves,  their  condition, 
moral  and  physical,  would  be  so  greatly  improved, 
that  it  would  be,  as  it  were,  a  most  glorious  act 
of  emancipation  to  them.  He  then  asserts  that 
the  poor  and  laboring  classes  in  the  Northern 
Free  States,  are  in  a  condition  but  a  little  more 
enviable  than  that  of  the  laboring  classes  of  Eng 
land — that  is,  according  to  this  authority,  they  are 
in  a  condition  more  miserable  and  degraded,  phy 
sically  and  morally,  than  their  African  slaves. 

We  see,  from  these  brief  quotations,  in  what  es 
timation,  labor  and  an  honest  laboring  population 
are  held,  and  have  been  held,  by  these  lordly  and 
insolent  nabobs  of  the  South.  Can  it  be  said 
that  slavery  has  not  perverted  their  intellect,  and 


THE  LAST  CRIME  OF  SLAVERY.        65 

blinded  their  eyes  ?  Was  there  ever  a  more  strik 
ing  verification  of  the  old  heathen  philosopher's 
saying,  "  Whom  the  Lord  intends  to  destroy,  he 
first  deprives  of  reason." 

Once  more,  the  baneful  and  corrupting  influence 
of  slavery  on  the  mind  and  soul  of  man,  is  seen 
in  the  intense  and  almost  fiendish  hatred  which 
it  engendered,  in  the  Southern  heart,  against  the 
entire  population  of  the  North.  I  can  say,  that 
hatred  exceeded  in  virulence  and  malignity,  any 
thing  I  have  ever  known.  The  war  was  the  un 
avoidable  result.  It  was  impossible  that  any  peo 
ple  so  thoroughly  alienated  from  another,  and  ani 
mated  by  such  a  phrenzy  of  madness  against  them, 
should  continue  to  live  under  the  same  government 
with  them. 

Two  hundred  men,  according  to  the  testimony 
of  the  Hon.  A.  J.  Hamilton,  were  hung  in  the 
State  of  Texas  alone,  during  the  year  1860,  for 
no  other  crime  than  that  of  having  been  born  at 
the  North.  This  was  some  months  before  the 
State  had  seceded,  and  before  it  was  known  there 
would  be  war. 

The  writer  of  these  pages,  would  state,  that, 
during  the  same  year,  while  traveling  in  the 
same  State  about  sixty  miles  from  the  place  of 


66  THE  LAST  CRIME   OP  SLAVERY. 

his  residence,  he  was  seized  by  a  mob  and  would 
undoubtedly  have  been  hung,  had  he  not  been 
able  to  procure  certificates  from  some  of  the 
most  influential  men  in  the  State,  that  he  had 
resided  thirty  years  in  the  South,  and  that  he 
had  never  been  known  to  be  an  abolitionist.  I 
must  here  say,  that,  up  to  the  moment  of  the 
bombardment  of  Fort  Sumter,  I  had  always  been 
a  conservative,  and  always  conscientiously  op 
posed  to  the  agitation  of  slavery  by  the  abo 
litionists.  Gov.  Hammond,  in  his  work,  "Sla 
very  in  the  light  of  Political  Science ,"  said  ;  "  the 
only  thing  that  can  create  a  mob  here,  (as  you 
might  call  it)  is  the  appearance  of  an  abolition 
ist,  whom  the  people  assemble  to  chastise;  and 
this  is  no  more  of  a  mob,  than  a  rally  of  shep 
herds  to  chase  a  wolf  out  of  their  pastures  would 
be  one." 

Thus,  we  see  that  the  people  of  the  South  had 
arrayed  themselves  against  universal  mankind. 
They  bade  defiance  to  the  opinion  of  the  civil 
ized  world.  In  their  judgment,  there  was  but 
one  institution — slavery.  That  was  the  ultimatum 
of  human  hope  and  desire.  And  to  that,  every 
other  institution  and  interest  must  succumb — 
Hear  the  same  writer  again :  "  you  are  stirring 


THE  LAST  CRIME  OF  SLAVERY.        67 

up  mankind  to  overthrow  our  Heaven-ordained 
system  of  servitude,  surrounded  by  innumerable 
checks,  designed  and  planted  deep  in  the  human 
heart  by  God  and  nature,  to  substitute  the  abso 
lute  rule  of  this  spirit  reprobate,  whose  proper 
place  was  hell."  "  Come  what  may,  we  are  firmly 
resolved  that  our  system  of  domestic  slavery  shall 
stand." 

The  eloquent  Dr.  Palmer,  of  New  Orleans,  just 
before  the  State  seceded,  preached  a  discourse, 
afterward  published  in  pamphlet  form,  in  which  he 
elaborated  the  proposition,  that  God  had  raised 
up  the  Southern  people  to  conserve  and  perpetu 
ate  the  institution  of  slavery ;  and  on  this  ground 
he  urged  and  advised  secession. 

0,  there  is  no  more  melancholy  spectacle,  than 
to  see  a  nation  or  an  individual,  thus  poised  on  a 
giddy  eminence,  on  their  own  narrow  pedestal,  and 
setting  at  defiance,  the  friendly  warnings  and  the 
advice  of  the  whole  Christian  world!  It  is,  and 
must  ever  be  the  sure  precursor  of  a  terrible  and 
sudden  overthrow.  Where  is  Dr.  Palmer  now? 
Poising  and  trembling  over  the  very  abyss  of 
atheism !  He  was  known  to  declare  publicly,  be 
fore  he  fled  from  the  presence  of  the  Yankee 
troops  in  New  Orleans,  that,  if  the  Almighty 


68        THE  LAST  CHIME  OF  SLAVERY. 

should  favor  the  cause  of  the  Yankees,  he  should 
lose  his  confidence  in  him  as  a  God  of  truth  and 
justice  !  We  cannot  avoid  the  conclusion,  that 
blindness  of  mind  as  well  as  a  judicial  hardness 
of  heart,  hath  taken  possession  of  the  people  of 
the  South. 

They  were  fully  prepared  to  perpetrate  the 
crime  of  treason.  Slavery  had  schooled  and  pre 
pared  all  their  faculties  of  mind  and  soul  for  it, 
and  all  they  awaited  was  a  fitting  occasion.  This 
occurred  on  the  announcement  of  the  election  of 
President  Lincoln,  the  first  President  ever  elect 
ed  without  the  Southern  vote.  They  even  prac 
tised  fraud  and  treachery  to  secure  the  election 
of  Mr.  Lincoln,  that  they  might  be  furnished  an 
opportunity  for  dissolving  the  Union.  Their  lead 
ing  politicians  knew,  that,  if  Mr.  Douglass  were 
the  nominee  of  the  Charleston  Convention,  he 
would  in  all  probability  be  elected,  in  which 
event,  the  Slave  States,  generally,  would  not  fol 
low  South  Carolina,  in  an  attempt  to  dissolve  the 
Union.  Therefore,  they  determined  to  prevent 
the  nomination  of  Douglass,  so  as  to  secure  the 
election  of  Lincoln.  I  think  that  every  intelli 
gent  man  in  the  country,  must  know  this  state- 


THE  LAST  CRIME  OF    SLAVERY.  69 

ment  to  be  correct.      But  I  will  here  introduce 
one  fact  in  evidence. 

In  the  State  Convention  of  Alabama,  which 
met  in  Montgomery,  to  choose  delegates  to  the 
Charleston  Convention,  an  exciting  debate  arose, 
on  the  resolutions  of  instruction  introduced,  for 
the  guidance  of  those  delegates,  when  they  should 
take  their  seats  in  that  Convention.  By  those 
resolutions,  they  were  required  to  vote  for  a 
clause  in  the  Democratic  platform  to  be  adopted, 
permitting  every  slave-holder  to  carry  his  slave- 
property  to  any  part  of  the  vacant  territory  of 
the  United  States,  where  he  might  choose  to  set 
tle.  Judge  Hitchcock,  of  Mobile,  one  of  the 
members  of  the  Convention,  arose  in  his  place, 
and  protested  earnestly  against  the  adoption  of 
such  a  resolution.  He  told  them,  it  was  asking 
too  much  of  their  Northern  Democratic  friends, 
to  require  them  to  vote  for  carrying  slavery  into 
all  the  vacant  territory  of  the  United  States,  and 
more  than  the  Northern  Democracy  were  pre 
pared  to  concede.  He  warned  them,  that,  to  in 
sist  on  inserting  such  a  clause  in  their  platform, 
would  lead  to  a  rupture  in  the  Convention,  and 
probably  to  a  dissolution  of  the  Union.  And,  in 
closing  his  remarks,  he  told  his  friends,  the  mem- 


70         THE  LAST  CEIME  OF  SLAVERY. 

bers  of  that  Montgomery  Convention,  that  they 
were  on  the  verge  of  a  precipice,  and  exhorted 
them  to  pause  and  consider,  before  they  leaped, 
madly  and  blindly,  into  the  abyss  yawning  before 
them. 

They  paid  no  attention  to  the  words  of  warn 
ing  which  he  uttered.  William  L.  Yancey  sprang 
to  his  feet,  and  exclaimed  that  he  did  not  wish 
any  gentleman  to  be  deceived — that  as  for  him 
self,  he  wanted  it  distinctly  understood,  that  he 
was  for  a  dissolution  of  the  Union,  "  with  or  with 
out  cause" 

The  resolutions  of  instruction  were  passed 
almost  unanimously,  there  being  but  six  votes 
against  them,  including  that  of  Judge  Hitchcock. 
The  honorable  gentleman  was  afterwards  a  refu 
gee  from  his  state  for  opinion's  sake,  and  is  now 
a  presiding  Judge  in  one  of  the  Courts  of  New 
^Orleans.  Thus  all  things  were  made  ready. 

We  come  now  to  the  final  act  in  the  drama.  The 
lightning  courier  has  carried  the  news  throughout 
the  length  and  breadth  of  the  land,  that  Mr.  Lin 
coln  has  been,  duly  and  constitutionally,  elected 
President  for  the  next  term  of  four  years.  What 
anathemas  dire  are  poured  forth  from  the  press, 
and  in  every  crowd  and  private  circle  throughout 


THE  LAST   CRIME   OF  SLAVERY.  71 

the  Southern  States !  as  if  the  cursing  demon  had 
been  let  loose  from  pandemonium!  Liberal  bets 
are  offered  that  he  would  never  be  inaugurated. 
Threats  are  made  that  he  never  should  be!  The 
flag  of  the  country  is  dishonored.  It  is  hauled 
down  from  the  towers  and  domes,  in  many  a  town 
and  city,  where  it  had  ever  proudly  floated  in  the 
favoring  breezes  of  heaven.  That  noble  flag,  the 
star  spangled  banner  is  trailed  in  the  dust,  by  the 
maddened  populace! 

What  terrible  national  calamity  has  wrought 
their  passions  to  such  a  pitch  of  fury?  What 
crime  had  Mr.  Lincoln  ever  committed,  or  what 
'Southern  right  had  he  ever  assailed,  or  even 
threatened  to  assail?  Not  one.  A  man  of  un 
blemished  reputation,  he  stands,  and  has  ever  stood 
by  the  constitution  of  his  country,  pledged  by 
previous  promises,  and  those  promises  renewed, 
and  reaffirmed  in  the  oath  of  office  when  he  was 
inaugurated,  sacredly  to  observe  all  the  provisions 
of  that  constitution,  and  to  guard  and  protect  all 
the  interests  of  the  South,  as  all  his  predecessors 
had  done.  Why  then  did  they  secede  ?  Why  did 
they  frantically  disrupt  the  bonds  of  the  best 
government  ever  enjoyed  by  man  ?  Why  did  they 
venture  to  hurl  themselves  on  the  perils  of  a  most 


72  THE  LAST   CRIME   OF   SLAVERY. 

bloody  and  fratricidal  war?  Can  they  assign  any 
plausible  reason?  Let  one  of  their  own  most  dis 
tinguished  statesmen  answer. 

"  Pause,  I  entreat  you,  and  consider  for  a  moment, 
what  reasons  you  can  give  to  your  fellow  sufferers, 
in  the  calamity  that  it  will  bring  upon  us.  What 
reasons  can  you  give  to  the  nations  of  the  earth, 
to  justify  it  ?  They  will  be  the  calm  and  deliber 
ate  judges  in  the  case,  and  to  what  cause,  or  one 
overt  act  can  you  name  or  point,  on  which  to  rest 
the  plea  of  justification?  What  right  has  the 
North  assailed?  What  interest  of  the  South  has 
been  invaded  ?  What  justice  has  been  denied, 
and  what  claim  founded  in  justice  and  right,  has 
been  withheld?  Can  either  of  you,  to-day,  name 
one  governmental  act  of  wrong,  deliberately  and 
purposely  done  by  the  Government  of  Washing 
ton,  of  which  the  South  has  a  right  to  complain  ? 
I  challenge  the  answer !  Now,  for  you  to  at 
tempt  to  overthrow  such  a  government  as  this, 
under  which  we  have  lived  for  more  than  three- 
quarters  of  a  century — in  which  we  have  gained 
our  wealth,  our  standing  as  a  nation,  our  domes 
tic  safety,  while  the  elements  of  peril  are  around 
us,  with  peace  and  tranquillity,  accompanied  with 
unbounded  prosperity,  and  rights  unassailed — is 


THE  LAST  CRIME  OF  SLAVERY.        73 

the  height  of  madness,  folly,  and  wickedness,  to 
which  I  can  neither  lend  my  sanction  nor  my 
vote." 

The  questions  of  Mr.  Stephens  have  never  been 
answered  —  they  cannot  be !  Nevertheless,  the 
work  of  demolition  is  begun.  The  temple  of  a 
world's  freedom,  reared  three-quarters  of  a  cen 
tury  ago,  must  be  destroyed.  It  is  nothing  that 
George  Washington  laid  the  corner-stone  in  the 
glorious  structure,  it  must  be  razed  to  the  dust ! 

They  begin  to  muster  the  hosts  of  their  chival- 
ric  Southern  legions.  The  din  and  clangor  of  re 
sounding  arms  begins  to  be  heard,  and  warlike 
movements  and  preparations  are  seen  on  every 
hand.  They  have  counted  the  cost,  and  the  die 
is  cast.  They  seize  upon  forts,  arsenals,  revenue 
cutters,  and  other  property  belonging  to  the  Gov 
ernment  at  Washington.  They  take  possession  of 
custom  houses,  mints,  and  government  funds,  in 
tended  for  the  pay  of  the  soldiers  who  had  been 
employed  to  defend  their  own  frontiers,  from  the 
depredations  of  hostile  Indians.  And  the  traitor, 
Twiggs,  even  endeavored  to  force  these  faithful 
soldiers  into  the  service  of  the  rebels. 

Slowly,  the  government  functionaries  begin  to 
wake  up,  and  to  take  measures  to  defend  the 


74  THE   LAST   CRIME   OF    SLAVERY. 

citadel  of  liberty.  But  they  had  slumbered  a 
little  too  long.  The  torch  of  the  incendiaries 
had  already  been  applied.  The  flames  were  al 
ready  kindled  —  and  the  mighty  conflagration  is 
not  yet  extinguished! 

"When  we  review  the  whole  matter,  we  are  over 
whelmed  with  amazement,  and  penetrated  with 
the  deepest  sorrow,  to  know  that  there  should  be 
found  concentrated  so  many  of  the  elements  of 
depravity,  and  in  such  strength,  in  the  hearts  of 
a  whole  people.  They  will  never  be  able,  here 
after,  to  assign  to  their  consciences,  or  to  their 
children,  a  single  satisfactory  reason,  for  this  mad 
rebellion,  against  the  legitimate  and  ordained  gov 
ernments  of  Heaven  and  earth.  They  cannot 
plead,  that  it  was  because  their  institutions  were 
insecure,  or  were  threatened.  The  earnest  and 
eloquent  voice  of  their  own  Stephens,  would  be  a 
refutation  of  any  such  plea. 

Long  ago,  the  great  statesmen,  John  Q.  Adams, 
conjured  them  to  adhere  to  the  Union,  as  the 
only  means  of  maintaining  their  cherished  insti 
tution  of  slavery.  The  compromise  ingrafted  on 
the  constitution,  unfortunately  for  the  whole  coun 
try,  was  their  guarantee  of  safety,  as  to  that  in 
stitution.  The  national  congre^e  never  would, 


THE  LAST  CRIME  OF  SLAVERY.        75 

never  could  have  interfered  with  slavery  in  the 
States  where  it  exists,  so  long  as  that  constitu 
tion  remains  unchanged.  And  there  was  not  the 
slightest  probability  of  any  such  change  being 
made,  at  least  for  half  a  century  to  come. 

The  rebels  knew,  moreover,  that  even  should 
they  succeed,  as  they  had  little  reason  to  expect, 
in  effecting  a  permanent  dissolution  of  the  Union, 
and  establishing  their  separate  independence,  their 
slave  property  could  not  be  half  so  secure,  as 
under  the  old  Union — that  all  fugitive  slave  laws 
would  be  repealed,  and  that  there  would  be  a 
Canada  frontier  erected  on  every  side  of  them. 

What,  then,  did  they  hope  for — what  could  they 
have  hoped  for,  from  a  change  ?  They  were  spell 
bound  !  They  were  under  the  influence  of  an  awful 
delusion !  We  must  believe  that  the  vengeance  of 
a  justly  offended  Deity  was  suspended  over  them, 
which  made  it  necessary  that  the  accumulated 
crimes  of  slavery,  should  be  expiated  in  their 
blood !  The  time,  decreed  in  the  secret  purpose 
of  God,  had  come,  and  the  bitter  cup  which  they 
had  prepared  for  their  own  lips,  they  must  drink  • 
aye,  to  the  lowest  dregs ! 


VII. 
THE  EXPIATION. 

THERE  is  an  established  connection  between  sin 
and  suffering.  I  believe  it  is  a  necessary  and 
universal  law,  ordained  by  God  Himself.  This 
nation  has  been  severely  judged.  The  judgment 
has  been  brought  on  us  directly  by  slavery,  and, 
therefore,  they  stand  related,  the  one  to  the  other, 
as  cause  and  effect.  By  this  rule,  we  may  determine 
in  what  light  the  system  of  slavery  is  regarded  by 
the  Supreme  Being.  Let  us  contemplate  and  fairly 
comprehend  this  important  and  fixed  law  of  His 
Providence. 

We  believe  that  nations,  as  well  as  individuals, 
are  punished  for  their  crimes.  And  we  believe, 
further,  that  they  are  not  punished,  except  for 
crimes  committed  against  His  law.  And  if  we 
believe  this,  we  cannot  be  in  doubt,  as  to  what  is 
the  Divine  verdict  in  reference  to  slavery. 

All  men,  and  all  nations,  which  are  not  atheists, 


THE  EXPIATION.  77 

act  with  implicit  confidence  in  the  truth  of  the 
belief,  just  stated.  It  has  been  the  practice  of 
nations,  from  time  immemorial,  in  seasons  of  gen 
eral  calamity,  and  under  the  reverses  of  war,  to 
humble  themselves  for  supposed  national  sins,  and 
to  appeal  to  their  deities,  to  avert  from  them  the 
calamities,  actual  or  threatened.  Would  this  be 
the  case,  universally,  amongst  heathen  as  well  as 
Christian  nations,  if  there  were  not,  in  the  minds 
of  all,  a  general  belief  that  there  is  a  connection 
between  the  judgments  with  which  nations  are 
visited,  and  the  sins  for  which  they  are  thus  vis 
ited,  in  the  Divine  displeasure  ?  Ye,  who  profess 
to  be  civilized  and  Christian  freemen,  how  long 
will  ye  ignore  this  universal  belief,  and  this  knowl 
edge  of  the  laws  of  the  Divine  Providence,  accord 
ing  to  which  he  deals  with  nations,  and  blesses 
them,  or  curses  them,  in  the  just  ratio  of  their 
deserts ! 

"We  know  that  the  system  of  domestic  slavery 
in  the  South,  brought  this  war  upon  the  country. 
Have  we  yet  learned  to  regard  the  war  in  the 
light  of  a  national  punishment,  inflicted  on  the  na 
tion  for  the  crime  of  slavery?  Has  there  ever 
been  a  day  appointed  for  national  humiliation, 
fasting  and  prayer,  on  account  of  this  sin  ?  Never ! 


78  THE  EXPIATION. 

\ 

Has  an  order  ever  gone  forth  to  the  army  to  abolish 
slavery  in  the  conquered  districts,  on  the  ground 
of  the  moral  turpitude  and  sin  of  the  system? 
Never !  Has  the  nation,  as  such,  ever  repented, 
or  even  professed  the  necessity  of  repentance  for 
this  gigantic  national  crime  ?  Never  ! 

Many  of  the  politicians  at  the  North,  even  some 
of  their  hypocritical  preachers,  and  a  large  por 
tion  of  the  citizens  in  all  the  States,  are  still  dis 
posed  to  be  the  apologists  of  this  masterpiece  of 
hell's  workmanship,  and  would  gladly  take  back 
their  Southern  brethren  into  their  loving  em 
brace,  with  this  darling  sin  still  clinging  to  them, 
if  the  Lord  would  permit  them. 

The  judgments  may  be  expected  to  continue  till 
the  nation  is  humbled,  and  repents  of  that  great 
crime  for  which  it  is  punished.  They,  therefore, 
who  put  themselves  forward  as  apologists  for  the 
sin,  are  the  real  enemies  of  the  country,  and  are 
standing  in  the  way,  between  us  and  pardon,  and 
reconciliation  with  the  offended  Deity.  We  shall 
never  have  peace,  till  slavery  is  abolished.  The 
Lord  is  chastising  us  as  a  people  for  this  sin,  and 
we  cannot  repent  of  the  evil,  without  putting  it 
away. 

We  shall  see,  that,  if  anything  is  accomplished 


THE  EXPIATION.  79 

by  this  war,  it  will  be  the  destruction  of  slavery. 
The  nation  will  be  corrected — the  country  will  be 
purged — and  we  do  not  expect  to  see  the  termin 
ation  of  this  war,  till  that  great  end,  for  which 
the  war  was  sent,  is  accomplished.  If  we  had 
understood  this  at  the  beginning,  the  war  could 
have  been  terminated  in  six  months.  If  the  proc 
lamation  of  emancipation  had  gone  forth  at  the 
very  commencement,  and  if  the  commanding  gene 
rals  of  the  army  had  been  permitted  to  muster 
the  enslaved  into  the  army,  to  assist  in  the  cause 
of  emancipation,  the  South  could  never  have  or 
ganized  a  powerful  army  at  all.  The  sons  of 
chivalry  would  have  been  kept  at  home,  to  defend 
their  own  hearth-stones  from  domestic  insurrec 
tion.  The  Southern  people  have  always  stood  in 
dread  of  their  slaves.  It  was  their  weak  point. 
But  the  North  seemed  entirely  to  ignore  the  fact, 
and  the  Government  refused  to  aim  a  decisive 
blow  against  that  weak-point.  They  resolved,  at 
first,  to  crush  the  rebellion,  and  yet  spare  the  pe 
culiar  institution.  They  tried  the  experiment,  but 
made  a  failure.  They  had  yet  to  learn  that  they 
had  grappled  with  a  monster. 

The  first    call    was   for    seventy-five    thousand 
men.    The  second  call  was  for  an  army  of   half 


80  THE  EXPIATION. 

a  million.  They  saw  the  flower  of  this  army 
swept  away.  A  thousand  millions  of  treasure 
had  been  expended,  and  the  Government  saw 
they  were  no  nearer  the  accomplishment  of  their 
object  than  when  they  began.  At  last,  from  very 
necessity,  they  adopted  the  policy  of  emancipation, 
compelled  thereto  by  an  overruling  Providence! 

Now,  who  has  stood  in  the  way  of  victory? 
Is  it  the  Government,  or  is  it  the  people  ? 

Suppose  the  proclamation  of  freedom  had  come 
out  at  the  very  beginning  of  the  war,  what  a 
storm  of  indignation  would  have  been  raised  by 
the  Northern  people  against  the  President!  They 
did  not  desire  the  overthrow  of  slavery. — They 
were  not  prepared  for  the  measure — and  the 
Government  dared  not  to  move  too  fast.  But  I 
ween  that  by  the  time  the  nation  has  bled 
enough,  they  will  have  become  quite  orthodox  on 
the  question  of  slavery. 

I  think  I  have  shown,  with  sufficient  clear 
ness,  that  this  war  was  caused  by  slavery — that 
it  is  the  fruit  of  slavery.  We  ought  to  be  able 
to  judge  of  a  tree  by  its  fruit.  But  more  on 
this  point  anon. 

History  teaches  us  that  nations  are  punished 
for  their  sins.  A  profound  Christian  faith  con- 


THE    EXPIATION.  81 

vinces  us,  that  no  nation  can  violate  the  laws 
of  Heaven  and  of  eternal  justice,  with  impunity. 
I  need  not  cite  examples  from  history,  for  I 
should  have  to  instance  all  the  nations,  whose 
history  is  known,  which  have  been  scourged ; 
which  have  been  desolated  by  fire  and  sword ; 
which  have  been  brought  to  the  verge  of  ex 
termination,  time  and  again;  and  show  that  in 
every  case,  it  was  because  of  their  national  wick 
edness  in  the  sight  of  Heaven,  and  their  disre 
gard  of  the  rights  of  justice  and  humanity. 

The  connection  between  national  crime  and 
national  calamity,  is  better  traced  in  the  history 
of  the  Jewish  nation,  than  any  other,  because 
the  pen  of  Inspiration  has  pointed  out  the  con 
nection.  But  we  may  not  suppose  that  other 
nations,  offending  against  the  laws  of  the  uni 
verse,  have  been  dealt  with,  by  a  different  rule. 
If  some  inspired  pen  had  been  provided  to  write 
the  tragical  history  of  the  nations  that  have 
passed  away,  or  that  are  existing  still,  in  a  lan 
guishing  and  broken  condition,  pointing  out,  in 
every  case,  the  causes  of  the  desolation  of  one ; 
the  convulsion  of  another;  the  severing  into  frag 
ments  of  a  third ;  the  utter  blotting  out  of  a 
fourth,  etc.,  as  the  inspired  writers  have  done  in 


82  THE   EXPIATION. 

the  case  of  the  Jewish  nation,  we  should  be  in 
possession,  for  our  guidance,  of  an  ever  present 
mentor,  to  whose  voice,  if  we  were  indifferent 
and  inattentive,  we  should  deserve  to  forfeit  our 
national  prestige  and  glory,  and  even  to  have  our 
name  blotted  out. 

But,  as  a  nation,  professing  to  be  Christian,  it 
is  enough  for  us  to  know  that  war  is  the  red 
hand  of  the  Almighty,  with  which  he  punishes 
and  scourges  the  nations  for  their  iniquities.  And 
we  ought  to  know  that  we  are  now  suffering 
the  vengeance  of  Heaven,  on  account  of  slavery. 
This  can  be  made  evident  by  several  considera 
tions  : 

1.  Slavery  was  the  cause  of  the  war.  This  was 
the  point  insisted  on  in  the  preceding  chapter. 
It  is  no  longer  a  debateable  question.  We  sup 
pose  that  there  is  no  well  informed  person  in  the 
land,  who  would  deny  the  fact.  Slavery  was  the 
original  and  primary  cause  of  the  war.  If  then 
there  had  been  no  slavery,  there  had  been  no 
war.  For  the  cause  ceasing  to  exist,  the  effect 
ceases,  of  course. 

But  slavery  exists,  and  it  has  produced  the  war. 
It  is  the  most  fearful  calamity  that  has  ever 
fallen  on  the  nation.  It  has  clothed  the  land  in 


THE   EXPIATION.  83 

mourning.  It  flouts  on  its  blood  stained  banners, 
unmistakable  signs  of  God's  anger  against  us  as 
a  people.  The  crimson  tide  of  life,  from  sons  and 
brothers,  has  moistened  many  fertile  plains  and 
valleys.  We  are  threatened  with  the  loss  of  our 
nationality,  and  our  national  glory— all,  all  be 
cause  of  slavery  !  Can  it  be  that  so  much  of  evil 
and  suffering  to  a  whole  people,  should  have  its 
origin  directly  and  solely  in  a  cause,  in  itself,  just, 
holy  and  good?  Would  this  be  in  accordance 
with  the  principles  of  the  Divine  Government? 
To  maintain  the  affirmative  would  be  impious. 
The  character  of  the  effect,  shows  the  character 
of  the  cause.  And  by  this  rule,  slavery  is  con 
demned.  By  the  same  rule,  we  learn  what  is  the 
verdict  of  the  great  monarch  of  the  universe  con 
cerning  it. 

2.  The  final  and  only  important  result  of  this 
war,  will  be  the  destruction  of  slavery.  If  the 
nation  is  successful  in  the  struggle  to  maintain  its 
very  existence,  this  end  will  be  inevitably  attained, 
although  not  originally  intended  or  designed,  by 
either  of  the  contending  parties.  The  cherished 
institution  of  the  South  will  be  blotted  out.  Can 
we  think  of  any  other  important  and  radical 
change,  that  will  be  made  in  our  constitution  and 


84  THE   EXPIATION. 

our  government,  but  this  ?  All  our  other  civil  and 
religious  institutions,  founded  in  wisdom  and  piety, 
will  remain  to  us  unimpaired.  Commerce  and 
trade,  and  all  the  arts  of  a  great  and  Christian 
people,  will  receive  a  new  impetus,  and  flourish 
as  formerly.  Our  free  schools,  a  free  church,  and 
a  free  press  will  be  continued,  still  to  bless  and 
enlighten  the  millions  of  freemen,  who  shall  be 
raised  up  to  inhabit  this  goodly  land.  The  na 
tion,  by  its  recuperative,  self-inherent  energies,  will 
soon  recover  from  the  effects  of  the  mighty  shock, 
and  settle  down  again  on  its  former  basis  of  un 
exampled  prosperity.  There  will  be  no  visible 
change.  But  slavery  will  have  passed  away. 
And  there  may  be  an  alteration  in  the  constitu 
tion  adapted  to  this  new  state  of  things.  Can  we 
discern  nothing  in  this,  indicative  of  the  will  and 
intentions  of  that  overruling  Providence  that  con 
trols  all  events  ?  Or  can  we  suppose  that  the 
God  of  this  nation  will  not  do  all  his  pleasure  ? 
3.  The  evils  of  this  war,  viewed  in  the  light 
of  a  national  punishment,  fall  heaviest  on  those 
guilty  of  the  sin  of  slavery.  This  is  another  mani 
fest  indication,  as  to  what  is  the  Divine  intention 
concerning  it.  Where  punishment  is  inflicted,  jus 
tice  requires  that  it  fall  on  the  guilty. 


THE   EXPIATION.  85 

In  the  first  place,  the  theatre  of  war  has  been 
mainly  in  the  Slave  States.  It  is  their  fields 
which  have  been  desolated,  and  drenched  in  blood. 
It  is  there,  where  the  poor  slave  has  so  long 
clanked  his  chains,  that  the  once  rich  and  cul 
tivated  tracts  have  been  devastated  ;  that  towns 
and  villages  have  been  sacked  and  burned ;  that 
thousands  of  once  happy  homes  have  been  forsaken, 
and  tens  of  thousands  of  delicate  wives  and  daugh 
ters  of  planters,  have  been  reduced  to  a  state  of 
starvation,  and  of  the  utmost  destitution,  by  the 
accidents  of  war. 

Again,  we  may  safely  estimate,  that  the  sacrifice 
of  human  life,  will  amount,  by  the  time  the  war 
is  closed,  in  round  numbers,  to  one  million  of 
men,  divided  about  equally,  between  the  North 
and  the  South,  who  have  fallen  in  the  field,  or 
by  diseases  caused  by  exposure  and  privation  in 
the  service.  It  is  known  that  many  entire  regi 
ments,  in  the  rebel  army,  were  reduced  to  one-half 
their  original  number,  before  the  end  of  the  first 
winter  campaign.  This  is  a  fearful  waste  of  human 
life.  The  loss  of  half  a  million,  out  of  a  popula 
tion  of  seven  million  white  inhabitants,  would  be 
fully  one-half  of  their  able-bodied  fighting  men ; 
whereas,  the  same  number  deducted  from  the  twen- 


86  THE   EXPIATION. 

ty-one  millions  of  the  Northern  States,  would  be 
equal  to  but  one  in  six,  who  have  fallen  victims 
to  the  war.  How  unequally  has  the  punishment 
fallen !  The  Slave  States  have  lost  half  their  men, 
who  were  able  to  bear  arms ;  the  Free  States 
have  lost  one-sixth  part.  There  is  a  Providence 
in  it,  to  whose  voice  we  may  not  turn  a  deaf  ear, 
if  we  would. 

In  the  third  place,  the  fortunes  of  the  Southern 
people  have  been  swept  away,  as  chaff  blown  by 
the  wind  ;  while  the  people  of  the  Free  States, 
with  few  exceptions,  have  been  as  prosperous 
and  thriving,  as  at  any  former  period  in  the  his 
tory  of  the  country.  It  is  melancholy  to  con 
template  the  change  which  a  few  brief  months 
have  wrought  in  the  condition  of  the  whole  South, 
and  its  inhabitants. 

Many,  who,  a  short  time  ago,  were  millionaires, 
will  be  made  beggars.  The  exactions  of  Jeff. 
Davis,  to  carry  on  the  war,  and  maintain  his. au 
thority,  have  already  stripped  the  most  of  them 
bare.  Their  wives  and  daughters,  who  had  been 
accustomed  to  ride  in  elegant  carriages,  and  flaunt 
their  silks  and  jewelry,  are  reduced  to  rags.  In 
many  cases,  their  children,  the  offspring  of  aris 
tocracy,  cry  for  bread,  to  appease  their  hunger.  It 


THE   EXPIATION.  87 

is  known  that  the  armies  at  Vicksburg,  and  at 
Port  Hudson,  for  some  days  before  they  surren 
dered,  had  no  meat  but  mules'  flesh ;  and  that  the 
latter  army,  under  General  Gardiner,  did  not  sur 
render  till  they  had  eat  the  last  mule. 

Now,  if  we  suppose  that  there  is  a  Providence 
in  all  this,  how  terrible  is  the  doom  that  has  fallen 
on  the  heads  of  the  slave-holders!  At  the  close 
of  the  war,  they  will  find  that  their  slave  prop 
erty,  on  account  of  which  they  made  the  war, 
is  gone.  The  little  remnant  of  their  property, 
which  Jeff.  Davis  had  not  extorted  from  them, 
will  be  confiscated  on  account  of  their  treason. 
Their  families,  who  had  never  labored,  and  had 
been  brought  up  to  despise  labor,  will  be  in  a 
condition  utterly  destitute  and  helpless.  I  can 
think  of  no  other  instance  of  the  Divine  displeas 
ure,  which  affords  any  analogy  to  this,  but  that 
of  the  ancient  Egyptians,  whose  first-born  were 
slain  by  the  destroying  angel ;  whose  cattle  were 
destroyed  by  the  plagues  ;  whose  army  was  over 
whelmed  in  the  Red  Sea,  on  account  of  the  sin 
of  oppression. 

In  the  last  place,  perhaps,  the  bitterest  ingre 
dient  in  the  cup  of  retribution,  hereafter,  will  be 
the  reflection,  "  we  brought  the  ruin  on  ourselves I" 


88  THE  EXPIATION. 

I  believe  that  the  madness  of  the  hour  will 
pass  away.  I  believe  that  reason  will  again  ex 
ercise  her  wonted  sway,  when  there  will  come  a 
bitter,  but  unavailing  repentance.  Then  they  will 
recall  to  their  recollections,  the  advice  and  faith 
ful  warnings  of  their  Alexander  H.  Stephens, 
their  Crittenden,  their  A.  J.  Hamilton,  and  even 
their  Sam  Houston,  and  a  few  other  wise  states 
men,  who  truly  and .  clearly  pointed  out,  what 
would  be  the  consequences  of  their  rebellion. 
They  will  be  compelled  to  remember  how  pros 
perous  and  happy  they  had  always,  been,  under 
the  old  government — that  no  rights  of  theirs  had 
ever  been  invaded  by  that  government — that  the 
old  constitution  had  always  protected  them  in 
the  possession  of  their  slave-property,  and  would 
still  have  afforded  them  protection,  if  they  had 
not  madly  and  wickedly  chosen  to  put  themselves 
forever  beyond  that  protection.  If  any  of  them 
go  into  exile  in  other  lands  hereafter,  these  will 
be  their  reflections — that  they  had  a  country 
whose  flag  was  honored  in  every  land ;  that  they 
had  wealth  and  friends  ;  that  they  were  prosper 
ous  and  happy ;  that  they  had  not  known  what 
oppression  was.  And  will  not  such  thoughts  as 
these,  be  intensified  even  to  agony,  when  they 


THE  EXPIATION.  89 

shall  see  that  well  known  flag  at  the  mast  head 
of  American  vessels,  in  the  ports  of  the  different 
countries,  where  they  may  be  exiles,  still  honored 
and  respected,  by  all  men,  as  the  symbol  of  free 
dom?  How  fearful,  but  just  are  the  retributions 
of  thy  Providence,  to  the  wicked,  0  God ! 

But  why  should  the  innocent  suffer  with  the 
guilty  ?  For  it  cannot  be  denied  that  the  inhabi 
tants  of  the  States  in  which  slavery  did  not  exist, 
have  already  suffered,  and  must  still  suffer  from 
this  war.  Why  are  they  made  to  share  in  the 
punishment  due  to  the  sins  of  others?  The  an 
swer  is,  the  nation  is  responsible  for  the  exist 
ence  of  the  system  of  slavery,  and  the  expiation 
of  the  guilt  thereof,  is  justly  required  from  the 
whole  nation. 

It  is  true,  the  body  of  the  people  in  the  North 
ern  States,  years  ago,  saw  and  deplored  the  evils 
of  the  system,  and  emancipated  all  their  own 
slaves.  So  far,  they  did  well.  But  still,  the 
institution  of  slavery  at  the  South,  with  all  its 
peculiarities  and  enormities,  has  grown  up  and 
flourished  under  the  auspices  and  shadow  of  the 
great  American  tree  of  liberty.  A  recognition  of 
the  system  was  engrafted  upon  the  Constitution, 
and  it  has  been  recognized  and  protected  by  the 


90  THE  EXPIATION. 

American  Congress.  Therefore,  it  may  be  said 
that  the  Sovereign  Ruler  of  nations,  justly  holds 
our  Government  responsible  for  the  existence  of 
the  evil.  Who,  then,  shall  complain,  that  the  na 
tion  feels  the  rod  of  chastisement,  lifted  for  the 
correction  of  the  whole  people. 

Not  only  was  the  Government  a  guilty  party, 
in  entering  into  a  compromise  or  treaty,  recog 
nizing  the  system,  and  incorporating  it  into  the 
body  politic,  but  the  entire  people  of  the  North, 
have  liberally  patronized  and  encouraged  the  in 
stitution,  in  purchasing  cotton  and  sugar,  the  pro 
ducts  of  slave-labor.  These  articles,  it  may  be 
affirmed,  were  the  sweat  and  blood  of  African 
slaves,  extracted  from  them  by  the  lash  of  task 
masters,  who  were  utterly  destitute  of  the  feeling 
of  humanity!  And  yet  the  Christian  people  of 
the  North,  and  the  people  of  England,  protesting 
all  the  while  against  the  barbarities  of  the  sys 
tem,  would  purchase  these  articles. 

Let  England  continue,  hypocritically,  to  protest 
against  slavery,  the  world  knows  that  her  im 
mense  commerce  and  trade,  is,  in  great  part,  main 
tained  by  the  toil  of  slaves.  She  is  the  most 
liberal  patron  of  the  system,  and,  if  she  dared,  she 
would,  to  day,  recognize  the  Southern  Confederacy, 


THE  EXPIATION.  91 

and  aid  in  laying  the  foundations  of  a  slave-re- 
public,  for  the  sake  of  a  monopoly  of  the  trade 
of  that  republic.  0  England,  tremble  in  view  of 
the  fate  that  surely  awaits  thee !  God  is  just,  and 
there  are  many  sins  laid  to  thy  charge,  yet  una- 
toned  for ! 

I  have  endeavored  to  ascertain  the  purpose  of 
the  Divine  will,  so  far  as  that  purpose  can  be 
known  by  the  dispensations  of  his  Providence  in 
the  present  war ;  and,  according  to  my  honest 
convictions,  there  seems  to  be  but  one  conclusion 
to  which  every  good  man  and  Christian  must  come, 
viz  :  that  it  was  intended  as  a  righteous  and  just 
judgment  for  the  sin  of  slavery. 

If  I  am  wrong  in  this  conclusion,  I  would  des 
pair  of  ever  being  able  to  read  aright  any  lesson, 
taught  by  the  dispensations  of  the  Divine  Provi 
dence,  in  the  management  of  human  affairs. 

If  I  am  right  in  the  conclusion  to  which  I  have 
arrived,  what  is  our  duty,  as  a  people  ?  Mani 
festly,  it  is  to  confess  and  repent  of  this  sin,  as  a 
nation!  We  have  not  yet  done  this.  It  is  true, 
that  days  for  fasting  and  humiliation  have  been 
appointed.  But  this  has  been,  pro  forma,  and 
from  custom,  rather  than  from  any  deep  conviction 
of  the  great  guilt  of  that  peculiar  system  of  ini- 


92  THE  EXPIATION. 

quity,  on  account  of  which  the  nation  is  scourged. 
Can  that  repentance  be  acceptable  in  the  sight  of 
heaven,  in  which  there  is  not  even  an  acknowl 
edgement  of  sin? 

It  is  true,  that  individual  Christians  have  long 
deplored  the  existence  of  the  evil,  and  made  con 
fessions  on  behalf  of  the  Government.  But  when 
has  the  Government  itself  ever  taken  this  posi 
tion  ?  Never !  If  our  rulers  will  not  get  down 
in  dust  and  ashes  to  humble  themselves  before 
the  Almighty  for  this  sin,  let  the  people  set  them 
the  example.  Let  petitions,  signed  by  thousands, 
be  at  once  addressed  to  the  President,  praying 
him  to  appoint  a  day,  to  be  observed  as  a  day  of 
humiliation  and  prayer  by  the  nation  at  large, 
calling  on  them  especially  to  make  confession  and 
repent  of  that  particular  form  of  sin,  for  which 
the  nation  is  judged,  viz  :  the  sin  of  slavery,  if  by 
any  means,  they  may  be  able  to  avert  the  just 
anger  of  heaven. 

If  a  proclamation  like  this  were  to  emanate 
from  the  White  House  at  Washington,  it  would 
be  as  welcome  to  millions  of  pious  hearts,  as  the 
rising  of  the  star  of  hope,  or  as  the  dawning  of 
the  day  of  salvation  to  our  distressed  and  bleed 
ing  country !  We  should  begin  to  think  that  the 


THE  EXPIATION.  93 

Lord's  anger  was  already  appeased,  and  that  He 
was  just  about  to  return  to  its  sheath  again,  the 
sword  drunk  with  the  blood  of  nearly  a  million 
of  lives! 


VIII. 

*i&L 

THE  "MALUM  IN  SE"  THEORY. 

A  STATE  of  ignorance  may  be  said  to  be  the 
normal  condition  of  the  human  mind.  And  yet 
all  the  guides  and  teachers  which  the  Author  of 
our  being  has  ordained  for  the  instruction  of  man, 
teach  the  way  of  truth  without  error.  All  the 
voices  of  nature,  not  less  than  the  voice  of  Revela 
tion,  incessantly  proclaim  to  him,  where  the  tem 
ple  of  truth  is  situated,  and  may  be  regarded  as 
so  many  indices,  pointing  him  in  the  road  that 
leads  thither. 

Truth  rests  upon  a  firm  and  immovable  basis. 
There  is  not  a  truth,  that  is  not  as  clear  as  the 
sunlight.  There  is  not  an  error  in  the  world, 
that  has  any  firm  support  for  its  foundation.  But 
every  error  is  an  illusion,  the  result  of  false  ap 
pearances,  and  maintained  by  false  arguments  and 
testimony. 

Why,  then,  does  man— why  do  all  men  so  eager- 


ly  embrace  error,  rather  than  truth  ?  Alas !  the 
intellect  is  clouded  by  sin,  and  to  that  extent, 
the  natural  understanding  has  been  brought  in 
subjection  to  the  power  of  sin.  The  philosophy 
of  the  whole  subject,  is  best  explained  in  those 
inspired  words,  "Men  love  darkness  rather  than 
light," — that  is,  error  rather  than  truth — "  because 
their  deeds  are  evil."  If  the  hearts  of  men  were 
not  evil,  they  would  not  hate  truth — they  would 
not  be  averse  to  the  light,  and  they  could  not 
love  darkness  more  than  the  light.  But  their 
hearts  are  evil,  and  to  evil  inclined — and  this 
affords  the  only  true  solution  in  the  case. 

Look  at  the  thousands  of  creeds,  and  systems, 
and  theories  that  have,  at  one  time  or  another, 
prevailed  in  the  world.  One  system,  one  theory, 
one  creed  after  another  passes  away,  only  to 
give  place  to  other  systems,  and  creeds,  and 
theories,  which,  in  like  manner,  soon  explode, 
and  prove  to  be  no  more  real  or  substantial 
than  a  bubble,  on  the  surface  of  the  waves. 

Where  is  the  system  of  religion  in  the  world, 
that  does  not  contain  in  it,  a  hundred  errors  to 
one  truth,  except  the  system  taught  in  the  Book 
of  books?  Where  is  the  system  of  human  phi 
losophy,  that  has  stood  the  test  of  time,  or  that 


96 

was  not  erected  on  a  foundation  of  falsehood? 
Where  is  the  theory  of  human  government,  that 
has  not  proved  defective,  and  soon  been  changed 
fbr  some  other  theory  ?  Where  is  the  book,  writ 
ten  by  uninspired  man,  worthy  of  attention  at  all, 
that  has  not  inculcated  a  vast  deal,  nay,  a  thou 
sand  times  more  of  error  than  of  truth?  Do  we 
not  know  that  the  philosophies  of  men  are  as 
ephemeral  and  short-lived  as  their  authors?  The 
philosophies  of  one  age,  give  place  to  those  of 
the  succeeding,  which  are  substituted  in  their  room, 
and  these  again  are  overturned  by  still  newer  sys 
tems,  which  spring  up  in  the  next  age.  And  so 
the  world  wags  on. 

How  crooked  and  diverse  are  the  paths  of  error ! 
Men  are  continually  changing!  The  man  of  to 
day,  can  hardly  be  said  to  be  the  man  of  yester 
day  !  But  TRUTH  NEVER  CHANGES  !  Truth  is  eter 
nal  1  This  sentiment  cannot  be  too  deeply  in 
scribed  on  our  heart  and  memory. 

How  comes  it,  that,  while  one,  self-erected  into 
a  philosopher  or  teacher  of  mankind,  pronounces 
all  slavery  a  sin — a  sin  per  se — and  the  very  re 
lationship  between  master  and  servant  to  be  sinful ; 
another,  equally  as  wise  in  his  own  conceit,  and 
confident  in  his  ability  to  instruct  and  enlighten 


THE   '*  MALUM   IN   SE  "   THEORY.  97 

his  fellow-men,  pronounces  the  institution  of  slavery 
to  be  one  of  Divine  appointment,  designed  for  the 
highest  good  of  our  race,  and  intended  to  be  per 
petuated  to  the  end  of  time?  Can  both  theories 
be  true  ?  Can  either  of  them  be  true  ?  No  fact 
can  be  better  established  than  that  both  are  alike 
founded  in-  error.  And  yet,  it  was  the  conflict  be 
tween  these  two  opposing  theories,  that  has  involved 
our  unhappy  country  in  this  dreadful  civil  war. 

I  cannot  now  say  that  I  blame  the  abolition 
ist,  for  the  instrumentality  he  has  had,  in  aliena 
ting  the  people  of  the  South,  and  plunging  the 
country  into  a  war.  For,  I  think,  I  see  now,  that 
he  was  but  an  instrument  in  the  hand  of  the 
higher  Power. 

The  war  might  have  been  averted — perhaps,  I 
may  say  the  war  would  never  occurred,  but  for 
the  conflict  between  these  opposing  theories,  of 
which  I  have  spoken.  In  fact,  all  wars  result 
from  the  conflict  of  opinions  amongst  men.  It  is 
the  way  in  which  such  disputes,  when  they  as 
sume  a  national  character,  are  usually  settled. 

Perhaps,  the  war  might  have  been  averted. 
But  then,  how  would  the  Most  High  have  exe 
cuted  his  decree  of  vengeance  ?  For,  that  He  had 
formed  such  a  decree,  to  punish  this  nation  for 


98  THE  "MALUM  IN  SE"  THEORY. 

all  the  crimes  and  bloodshed  of  which  they  had 
been  guilty  in  perpetrating  the  horrors  of  the 
African  slave  trade,  and  in  patronizing  and  up 
holding  the  accursed  system,  for  so  many  years,  I 
believe  as  firmly  as  that  He  occupies  the  throne 
of  universal  dominion.  Still,  while  I  make  this 
declaration,  I  at  the  same  time  freely  admit,  I  feel 
no  regret,  that  it  was  the  abolitionist  and  not 
myself,  who  was  employed  as  the  instrument  in 
bringing  to  pass  the  accomplishment  of  that  de 
cree  of  wrath,  at  the  fulfilment  of  which  the  na 
tions  of  the  earth  stand  aghast. 

If  the  abolitionist  had  been  content  simply  to 
denounce  the  African  slave-trade — If  he  had  only 
warred  against  the  system  of  slavery  existing  in 
the  Southern  States,  as,  in  many  of  its  features,  and 
under  the  existing  laws  and  regulations  of  those. 
States  subversive  of  the  rights  of  humanity,  and  con 
trary  to  the  principles  of  the  Divine  will,  as  made 
known  in  his  word,  I  for  one  should  never  have  had 
any  cause  of  disagreement  with  him,  provided  he 
had  conducted  the  controversy  in  a  Christian  spirit. 

But  when  he  went  beyond,  this,  and  began  to 
teach  a  new  philosophy,  advocating  the  malum  in 
se,  theory,  in  reference  to  slavery,  he  assumed  a 
position  from  which  he  was  compelled  to  draw  a 


THE  "MALUM  IN  SE"  THEORY.  99 

line,  even  through  the  church  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  excommunicating  in  a  body,  all  slave- 
holding  Christians,  with  whom  fraternal  and  Chris 
tian  communion  had  been  maintained,  ever  since 
there  has  been  a  church  on  earth.  He  introduced 
a  new  test  of  Christian  character,  which  neither 
Christ  nor  his  apostles  had  ever  instituted,  as  a 
necessary  qualification  for  the  communion  of  the 
church  ;  and  had  he  lived  in  the  days  of  the  apos 
tles,  he  would  have  excluded  many  from  the 
church,  whom  they  retained  in  it.  For  it  is  not 
denied,  that,  among  the  various  communities,  to 
whom  Paul,  and  the  other  apostles  addressed 
their  epistles,  there  were  slave-holding  Christians. 
But  no  where,  in  any  of  their  epistles,  do  we  find 
any  intimation,  that  they  were  to  renounce  all 
connection  with  slavery,  or,  in  other  words,  to 
liberate  their  servants  or  bondmen,  as  a  neces 
sary  qualification  for  the  communion  of  the  church. 
There  is  not  a  sentence  in  any  of  those  epistles, 
from  which  the  inference  can  be  logically  drawn, 
that  all  slavery  is  a  sin,  which  must,  therefore,  be 
classed  with  murder,  theft,  adultery,  drunkenness, 
and  other  such  like  abominations,  which  are  sins 
at  all  times,  no  matter  under  what  circumstances 
committed. 


100  THE  "MALUM  IN  SE"  THEORY. 

Further,  this  new  and  extraordinary  dogma, 
would  have  excluded  from  the  favor  of  God,  and 
from  the  hope  of  salvation,  the  ancient  patriarchs, 
and  founders  of  the  Jewish  Church,  Abraham, 
Isaac,  and  Jacob,  who,  we  know  from  the  Divine 
Record,  were  the  proprietors  of  immense  numbers 
of  servants,  both  of  those  whom  they  had  raised, 
and  whom  they  had  bought  with  their  money. 
Nay,  the  same  theory  necessarily  arraigns  the  wis 
dom  of  the  Divine  Legislation,  in  establishing 
slavery,  by  express  command,  among  the  Hebrews, 
in  the  land  of  Canaan,  after  the  original  inhabit 
ants  had  been  dispossessed  and  subdued.  For 
these  and  other  reasons,  I  never  did,  and  I  do 
not  now,  adopt  or  endorse  that  theory. 

Let  us  look,  for  a  moment,  at  the  effects  of  the 
promulgation  of  that  dogma.  It  cannot  be  de 
nied  that  ecclesiastical  bodies  have  been  rent 
asunder  and  divided,  Northern  Christians  refusing 
all  fellowship  and  communion  with  Southern  chris- 
tians,  because  of  the  sin  of  slavery.  And  if  the 
unity  of  the  body  of  Christ  was  destroyed,  under  the 
effects  of  this  preaching,  was  it  reasonable  to  ex 
pect,  or  to  hope,  that  the  body  politic  could  re 
main  one  and  indivisible  ? 

As  soon    as  the   abolitionist  had  adopted  the 


THE  "MALUM  IN  SE"  THEORY.  101 

malum  in  se  theory,  and  had  made  himself  sure 
of  the  truth  of  it,  that  moment,  he  lost  all  fra 
ternal  and  charitable  sentiments  towards  South 
ern  Christians,  or  those  involved  in  a  connection 
with  slavery.  He  began  to  regard  them  as 
heathen  and  as  sinners.  The  very  fact  of  their 
owning  a  slave,  was  sufficient  proof  to  him,  that 
they  were  still  in  an  unchristian  state — still  "in 
the  gall  of  bitterness,  and  the  bond  of  iniquity."  Of 
course,  he  felt  himself  justifiable  in  denouncing 
them  as  "kidnappers"  " man-steakrs"  "robbers"  as 
men  "in  covenant  with  hell  and  in  league  with 
death,"  etc.,  etc.  Prior  to  the  date  of  the  pro 
mulgation  of  that  dogma,  Christian  charity  for 
bade  that  any  class  of  communicants  should  be 
thus  denounced.  But  as  soon  as  the  abolitionist 
had  got  in  possession  of  a  principle,  which  ex 
cluded  this  class  all  from  the  church,  he  might, 
without  any  great  inconsistency,  begin  to  employ 
harsh  and  bitter  words,  and  to  treat  as  heathens, 
those  made  such  by  his  own  philosophy. 

The  legitimate  fruit  of  these  bitter  denuncia 
tions,  and  this  altered  style  of  address,  towards 
the  South,  was  soon  apparent.  As  might  have 
been  anticipated,  it  caused  irritation.  A  feeling 
of  alienation  between  the  two  sections  of  North 


102 


and  South  was  engendered.  That  alienation  has 
increased  and  strengthened,  from  the  first  mo 
ment,  up  to  the  present  time.  Hatred  against 
the  abolitionists  has  become  the  passion  of  the 
Southern  people — an  intense  hatred,  which  I  can 
only  describe  as  fiendish! 

Of  course,  no  one  would  undertake  to  justify 
the  people  of  the  South  for  thus  having  the  worst 
passions  of  their  nature  aroused,  and  giving  them 
selves  up,  on  so  slight  a  provocation,  to  the  ab 
solute  possession  of  such  vindictive  passions.  I 
am  speaking  of  the  results  that  followed  from  the 
propagation  of  ih.Qumalum  in  se"  theory.  Neither 
would  I  assert,  that,  it  was  the  aim  of  the  abo 
litionist,  to  produce  these  results.  It  might  have 
been — it  probably  was,  his  design,  simply,  by  ad 
monition,  by  warning,  by  rebuke,  to  point  out  to 
slave-holders,  the  enormity  of  their  guilt,  and 
lead  them  to  put  away  the  sin  of  slavery. 

If  this  was  all  the  abolitionist  designed,  the 
design  was  honorable  and  upright.  But  it  is 
quite  certain  that  he  erred,  in  the  use  of  the  lan 
guage  and  manner  employed,  for  the  accomplish 
ment  of  his  design.  Human  nature  is  the  same 
the  world  over.  Men  may  be  persuaded — they 
can  even  endure  the  language  of  remonstrance 


THE  "MALUM  IN  8E  "  THEORY.  103 

and  rebuke,  when  spoken  in  kindness.  But  they 
cannot  bo  driven  to  any  measures  of  reform,  no 
matter  how  necessary.  And  they  rebel  and  turn 
upon  their  assailants,  when  attacked  by  opprobri 
ous  and  insulting  epithets. 

Another  effect,  which  followed  the  violent  course 
of  the  abolitionists,  was  to  put  slave-holders  in  an 
attitude  of  self-defense,  in  regard  to  their  peculiar 
institution.  They  began  to  use  weapons  and  ar 
guments  which  they  had  not  previously  employed. 
Not  only  did  they  close  their  eyes  and  their  ears 
to  all  appeals  and  all  arguments  coming  from  a 
Northern  source,  but  they  set  themselves  diligently 
to  study  the  arguments  on  their  own  side  of  the 
question,  and  soon  began  to  acquire  a  wonderful 
facility  in  converting  even  the  shallowest  sophisms 
into  the  most  convincing  arguments,  for  the  Di 
vine  origin  of  slavery. 

Parson  Smiley,  of  Mississippi,  was  the  first,  I 
believe,  who  attempted  to  defend  the  institution, 
upon  Bible  authority.  He  brought  out  his  pam 
phlet  in  the  year  1837.  I  was  residing  in  Natchez, 
at  the  time,  and  I  remember  well,  what  were  my 
own  sensations,  and  how  other  ministers  among 
his  brethren,  seemed  to  be  grieved  by  the  boldness 
of  this  attempt  to  sustain  such  an  institution,  by 


104  THE 

an  appeal  to  the  word  of  God.  The  impression 
seemed  to  be,  that,  it  would  seriously  and  injuri 
ously  affect  the  whole  Church,  especially  in  the 
South.  But  the  pamphlet  had  its  influence.  Peo 
ple  read  it — the  quotations,  arguments,  and  infer 
ences,  all  seemed  to  be  plausible  and  apposite. 
And  soon  there  were  not  a  few  among  the  more 
intelligent  and  wealthy  of  the  population,  who 
were  willing  to  accord  to  Mr.  Smiley,  the  honor 
of  having  written  an  unanswerable  defense  of  their 
cherished  institution.  From  time  to  time,  since, 
other  productions  of  a  similar  nature  have  been 
published,  till  now,  there  is  scarcely  any  gentle 
man's  library  in  the  South,  that  is  not  well-stocked 
with  volumes,  advocating  the  Divine  origin  of 
slavery.  Not  one  slave-holder,  perhaps,  in  a  hund 
red,  could  be  found  who  would  presume  to  ques 
tion  the  Divine  right,  or  the  morality  of  the  insti 
tution.  Such,  and  so  great  is  the  change,  that  has 
taken  place  in  the  public  sentiment  at  the  South, 
on  this  exciting  topic,  within  a  period  of  less  than 
thirty  years. 

I  cannot  say  that  I  am  prepared  to  affirm,  that 
this  sudden  and  rapid  change,  on  a  subject  of 
such  absorbing  interest,  was  wholly  a  reaction 
ary  result,  produced  by  the  measures  adopted  by 


THE  "  MALUM  IN  SE  "  THEORY.       105 

the  extreme  abolition  party  in  the  North.  I  only 
state,  what  appear  to  me  to  have  been,  the  facts 
in  the  case.  One  thing,  however,  I  will  affirm  ; 
and  it  is,  that,  up  to  the  date  above  mentioned, 
there  were  few  pious  men  in  the  Church  at  the 
South,  or  even  among  the  more  intelligent  plant 
ers,  who  did  not  freely  admit  that  slavery  is  an  evil. 
They  usually  qualified  the  admission,  however,  by 
saying  that  it  is  a  necessary  evil,  and  unavoidable 
in  certain  conditions  of  society. 

Thus,  the  conflict  between  opinions,  North  and 
South,  was  initiated.  Churches  have  been  divided 
by  lines  running  parallel  with  Mason's  and  Dixon's 
line.  A  spirit  of  irreconcilable  enmity  has  been 
engendered,  between  the  people  of  the  two  sections. 
And  now,  we  behold  this  once  and  long  favored 
land,  desolated  with  fire  and  sword,  and  drenched 
in  fraternal  blood.  "Behold  how  great  a  matter,  a 
litttefire  kindleth!" 

Can  we  suppose  that  such  direful  calamities  to 
Church  and  State,  could  have  befallen  this  nation, 
unless  the  way  had  been  prepared  by  this  con 
flict  between  false  opinions?  Suppose  the  aboli 
tionist  had  remained  quiet ;  suppose  he  had  never 
put  forth  his  dogma,  the  "  malum  in  se "  theory, 
which,  with  all  respect,  I  would  say,  is  not  to  be 


106  THE 

found  in  the  Bible  ;  suppose  lie  had  refrained  from 
all  agitation  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  and  just 
consented  that  the  people  of  the  Slave  States, 
should  manage  their  own  institution,  in  their  own 
way  ;  suppose,  further^  that,  instead  of  being  an 
agitator,  he  had  become  a  missionary  to  the  South, 
(it  was  an  inviting  field,)  and  labored  for  the  con 
version  of  masters,  conversing  and  mingling  with 
them  freely  ;  endeavoring,  in  the  spirit  of  that 
charity,  inculcated  in  the  Gospel,  to  convince  them 
of  their  errors,  whilst,  at  the  same  time,  he  had 
access  to  the  slaves,  both  to  preach  to  them,  and 
to  instruct  them  in  Sabbath-schools — suppose  these 
things,  and  we  have  a  right  to  suppose  them  ;  what 
then? 

That  universal  and  bitter  hatred,  which  possesses 
the  hearts  of  the  Southern  against  the  Northern 
people,  would  have  had  no  existence  now — for  it 
arose  against  abolitionists !  The  Churches  had 
not  been  distracted  and  divided !  Harmony  and 
concord  had  still  reigned,  as  in  former  years,  from 
one  extremity  to  the  other  of  this  great  republic. 
And,  above  all,  the  process  of  gradual  emancipa 
tion  might  have  been  going  forward  still,  as  for 
merly. 

It  was  as  late  as  the  year  1808  that  the  Afri- 


THE  "MALUM  IN  SE"  THEORY.  107 

can  slave  trade  was  abolished  in  this  country. 
This  was  a  triumph,  which,  as  I  must  think,  was 
achieved  by  Christianity.  Since  that  period,  several 
of  the  States  in  which  slavery  had  existed,  have 
abolished  the  institution.  New  York  became  a 
free  State  as  late,  I  believe,  as  the  year  1827,  just 
a  short  time  before  the  ultra  abolitionists  began 
their  efforts  at  agitation.  And,  at  the  very  mo 
ment,  when  those  efforts  were  commenced ;  and 
the  new  dogma  was  announced,  memorials  were 
circulating  in  the  State  of  Kentucky,  to  which 
thousands  of  signatures  had  been  obtained,  pray 
ing  the  Legislature  so  to  change  the  constitution, 
as  to  provide  for  the  gradual  extinction  of  slavery 
in  the  State.  But  these  memorials  were  with 
drawn  in  consequence  of  those  efforts,  and  the 
work  of  emancipation  was  stopped.  There  has 
been  no  advance  since,  till  this  war  was  initiated. 
Emancipation  is  accomplished  now,  with  a  ven 
geance  ! 

I  confess  myself  among  the  number  of  those 
who  believe,  that,  there  is  an  inherent  moral 
power  in  Christianity,  adequate  to  the  complete 
regeneration  of  the  world,  and  the  suppression  of 
all  those  evils  which  afflict  human  society.  Under 
its  benign  auspices,  emancipation  might  have  pro- 


108  THE  "MALUM  IN  SE"  THEORY. 

gressed,  till  there  had  not  been  found  one  slave 
in  Christendom.  The  unity  of  the  churches  might 
have  been  preserved.  The  friendly  relations  be 
tween  the  inhabitants  of  the  different  sections  of 
the  Union,  might  have  been  maintained.  And  we 
might  have  been  spared  the  pain  of  witnessing 
the  horrors  of  this  cruel  war.  But,  the  Infinite 
Ruler  of  the  universe  had  willed  otherwise,  and 
he  raised  up  the  instruments  to  execute  the  pur 
pose  of  his  will. 

I  will,  here,  take  the  liberty  to  introduce  a 
short  extract  from  an  article  in  the  Princeton  Re 
view,  published  several  years  before  the  beginning 
of  our  national  troubles.  It  is  a  very  able  and 
lucid  dissertation  on  the  subject  of  slavery.  In 
it,  the  author,  supposed  to  be  Dr.  Hodge,  plainly 
forewarned  the  country  of  what  would  inevitably 
be  the  consequences  of  a  persistent  effort,  on  the 
part  of  abolitionists,  to  maintain  the  "  malum  in 
se"  theory.  What  he  foretold  as  a  necessary  and 
logical  consequence  of  that  theory,  we  see,  now, 
to  be  an  accomplished  fact. 

"The  assumption  that  slave-holding  is  itself  a 
crime,  is  not  only  an  error,  but  it  is  an  error 
fraught  with  evil  consequences.  It  not  merely 
brings  its  advocates  into  conflict  with  the  Scrip- 


THE  "  MALUM  IN  SE  "  THEORY.       109 

tures,  but  it  does  much  to  retard  the  progress  of 
freedom ;  it  embitters,  and  divides  the  members  of 
the  community,  and  distracts  the  Christian  church. 
Its  operation  in  retarding  the  progress  of  free 
dom,  is  obvious  and  manifold.  In  the  first  place, 
it  directs  the  battery  of  the  enemies  of  slavery  to 
the  wrong  point.  It  might  be  easy  for  them  to 
establish  the  injustice  or  cruelty  of  certain  slave 
laws,  where  it  is  not  in  their  power  to  establish 
the  sinfulness  of  slavery  itself.  They,  therefore, 
waste  their  strength.  Nor,  is  this  the  least  evil. 
They  promote  the  cause  of  their  opponents.  If 
they  do  not  discriminate  between  slave-holding 
and  the  slave-laws,  it  gives  the  slave-holder,  not 
merely  an  excuse,  but  an  occasion,  and  a  reason 
for  making  no  such  distinction.  He  is  thus  led  to 
feel  the  same  conviction  in  the  propriety  of  the 
one,  that  he  does  in  that  of  the  other.  His  mind 
and  conscience  may  be  satisfied,  that  the  mere  act 
of  holding  slaves  is  not  a  crime.  This  is  the 
point,  however,  to  which  the  abolitionist  directs 
his  attention.  He  examines  their  arguments,  and 
becomes  convinced  of  their  inconclusiveness,  and 
is  not  only  thus  rendered  impervious  to  their  at 
tacks,  but  is  exasperated  by  what  he  considers 
their  unmerited  abuse.  In  the  mean  time,  his  at- 


110  THE 

tention  is  withdrawn  from  far  more  important 
points  ;  the  manner  in  which  he  treats  his  slaves, 
and  the  laws  enacted  for  the  security  of  his  poses- 
sion.  These  are  points  on  which  his  judgment 
might  be  much  more  readily  convinced  of  error, 
and  his  conscience  of  sin. 

"  Again,  the  opinion,  that  slave-holding  is,  it 
self  a  crime,  must  operate  to  produce  the  disunion 
of  the  States,  and  the  division  of  all  the  ecclesiastical 
societies  in  this  country.  The  feelings  of  the  peo 
ple  may  be  excited  violently  for  a  time,  but  the 
transport  soon  passes  away.  But  if  the  conscience 
is  enlisted  in  the  cause,  and  becomes  the  control 
ling  principle,  the  alienation  between  the  North 
and  the  South,  must  become  permanent.  The  op 
position  to  Southern  institutions  will  become  calm, 
constant  and  unappeasable.  Just  so  far  as  this 
opinion  operates,  it  will  lead  those  who  entertain 
it,  to  submit  to  any  sacrifices  to  carry  it  out,  and 
give  it  effect.  We  shall  become  two  nations,  in  feel 
ing,  which  must  soon  render  us  two  nations  in  fact. 
With  regard  to  the  church,  its  operation  will 
be  more  summary.  If  slave-holding  is  a  heinous 
crime,  slave-holders  must  be  excluded  from  the  church. 
Several  of  our  judicatories  have  already  taken 
this  position.  Should  the  General  Assembly 


THE   "MALUM   IN   SE  "   THEORY.  Ill 

adopt  it,  the  church  is,  ipso  facto  divided.  If  the 
opinion  in  question  is  correct,  it  must  be  main 
tained,  whatever  are  the  consequences.  We  are 
no  advocates  of  expediency  in  morals.  We  have 
no  more  right  to  teach  error,  in  order  to  prevent 
evil,  than  we  have  a  right  to  do  evil,  to  promote 
good.  On  the  other  hand,  if  the  opinion  is  in 
correct,  its  evil  consequences  render  it  a  duty  to 
prove  and  exhibit  its  unsoundness.  It  is  under 
the  deep  impression  that,  the  primary  assumption 
of  the  abolitionists  is  an  error,  that  its  adoption 
tends  to  the  distraction  of  the  country,  and  the  di 
vision  of  the  church ;  and  that  it  will  lead  to  the 
longer  continuance  and  greater  severity  of  slavery, 
that  we  have  felt  constrained  to  do  what  little 
we  could,  towards  its  correction." 

Now,  the  above  paragraphs,  let  it  be  remem 
bered,  were  penned  months  and  years  before  the 
logical  and  necessary  tendency  of  this  fundamental 
doctrine  of  the  abolitionists,  had  been  fully  devel 
oped.  But,  being  able  to  perceive  the  connection 
between  a  cause  and  its  effects,  the  writer  fore 
saw  clearly,  and  predicted  what  must  be  the  con 
sequences  of  that  system.  And  now,  we  have  to 
record  those  consequences  as  accomplished  facts — 


112 


in  every  particular,  except  in  regard  to  the  state 
ment  in  the  last  sentence,  where  the  writer  says  : 
"it  will  lead  to  the  longer  continuance  of  sla 
very."  It  has  led  to  the  sudden  and  immediate 
downfall  of  slavery  in  this  country.  But,  as  I 
stated  before,  the  result  was  decreed  by  the  Power 
that  rules  over  all. 

Henceforward,  I  am  an  abolitionist.  I  have 
been  one,  from  the  day  of  the  bombardment  of 
Fort  Sumter.  I  was  then,  as  well  convinced  that 
God  had  purposed  the  immediate  and  utter  over 
throw  of  the  institution,  as  I  was,  when  President 
Lincoln  issued  the  Proclamation  of  Emancipation. 
I  will  not,  knowingly,  be  found  in  the  ranks  of 
those  who  resist,  or  fight  against  that  overruling 
Providence.  I  am  in  favor  of  immediate  and  en 
tire  emancipation,  and  shall  co-operate  cordially, 
and  with  all  my  energies,  with  abolitionists  and 
all  others  who  labor  for  the  accomplishment  of 
this  end.  Though  I  have  ever  believed  that  sla 
very  is  an  evil,  yet  I  do  not  now,  and  never  did 
accord  in  the  sentiment,  that  all  slavery  is  a  sin. 
But,  in  regard  to  the  system  of  African  slavery, 
as  it  prevailed  in  the  South,  I  am  free  to  express 
my  opinion  that  it  is  a  system  of  iniquity  and  a 


1<    SE"  THEORY.  113 

compound  of  horrors.  If  I  have  not  already  suf 
ficiently  made  known  the  reasons  for  this  opinion, 
I  shall  endeavor  to  do  so,  in  the  subsequent  pages 
of  this  work. 


114 


IX. 
CHRISTIANITY   VERSUS  SLAVERY. 

DOES  Christianity  sanction  or  tolerate  slavery? 
It  has  been  argued  by  many,  who  profess  to  be 
Christians,  that  it  does,  and  many  books  have 
been  written  to  prove  it.  But  here  is  what  the 
Divine  Author  of  Christianity  says  ;  "  The  Spirit 
of  the  Lord  is  upon  me,  because  he  hath  anointed 
me  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  the  poor ;  He  hath 
sent  me  to  heal  the  broken-hearted,  to  preach 
deliverance  to  the  captives,  and  recovering  of 
sight  to  the  blind ;  to  set  at  liberty  them  that 
are  bound ;  to  preach  the  acceptable  year  of  the 
Lord."  The  acceptable  year  of  the  Lord  is  sup 
posed  to  refer  to  the  year  of  jubilee,  which  was 
the  year,  when,  under  the  old  Jewish  dispensation, 
all  the  prisoners  and  captives  were  set  at  liberty. 

The  Son  of  God  proclaims  that  the  words  of 
this  prophecy  were  to  be  fulfilled  by  his  mission 
into  the  world.  Now  I  design  to  show  that  He 


CHRISTIANITY  VERSUS  SLAVERY.  115 

is  acting  in  accordance  with  what  he  said  was  the 
design  of  his  mission  to  this  earth.  He  is  freeing 
the  captive  from  his  chains.  He  is  bringing  lib 
erty  to  them  that  were  bound.  He  is  so  mana 
ging  and  directing,  by  his  mighty  Providence,  the 
affairs  of  this  world,  as  to  hasten  and  bring  about 
a  grand  jubilee  to  the  whole  earth,  when  all  shall 
be  free. 

We  know,  that,  before  the  dawn  of  the  Chris 
tian  era,  slavery  existed,  and  had  existed,  from 
time  immemorial,  almost  throughout  the  world.  It 
existed  in  Egypt.  It  existed  in  Persia.  It  exist 
ed  among  the  Jews.  It  existed  among  the  Greeks. 
It  prevailed  in  the  Roman  Empire.  It  existed  in 
nearly  all  the  countries  of  modern  Europe. 

Not  only  did  Turks  sell  Christians,  and  white 
men  sell  black  men,  but  white  men  sold  slaves  of 
their  own  color  and  race.  Even  our  ancestors  in 
England,  sold  their  own  brethren,  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  race,  into  the  most  ignominious  bondage. 
These  are  facts,  well  known  to  every  student  of 
history.  And  yet,  no  voice,  has  ever  been  lifted 
up,  in  condemnation  of  the  universal  practice,  save 
the  voice  of  Christianity. 

But  how  stands  the  case  now?  Slavery  has 
been  blotted  out,  from  every  country,  where  the 


116  CHRISTIANITY  VERSUS  SLAVERY. 

Christian  is  the  prevailing  religion,  except  Brazil, 
the  Spanish  West  Indies,  and  our  Southern  States  ; 
and  in  the  last  named,  we  see,  that,  under  the 
effect  of  the  stores  of  Divine  vengeance,  which 
have  descended  on  the  heads  of  those  who  upheld 
the  accursed  system,  it  is  just  now  in  the  agonies 
of  dissolution. 

The  selling  of  human  beings  as  slaves,  is  no 
longer  tolerated  or  practised  in  any  of  the  coun 
tries  of  Europe.  It  is  extremely  doubtful  whether 
the  system  can  survive  ten  years  longer  in  Cuba 
or  Brazil.  And  when  it  shall  receive  its  death 
blow  there,  it  will  cease  forever  to  have  any  ex 
istence  in  the  new  world. 

This  is  what  Christianity  has  done,  and  is  doing, 
for  the  cause  of  freedom.  The  inarch  of  the 
latter,  is  co-extensive  with  the  progress  of  the 
former. 

Let  there  be  none  in  the  ranks  of  the  church- 
militant,  who  deny  to  Jesus  Christ,  the  honor  of 
these  glorious  triumphs  of  the  gospel,  in  favor  of 
human  liberty.  Let  no  one  be  heard  to  make  the 
objection,  that  the  African  slave  trade  was  origin 
ated,  and  carried  on,  under  the  auspices  and  pat 
ronage  of  Christian  countries.  Those  countries 
were  nominally  Christian,  it  is  true,  but,  really  and 


CHRISTIANITY  VERSUS  SLAVERY.  117 

emphatically,  they  were  infidel.  What  was  France, 
but  an  infidel  country?  Spain  was  no  better. 
And  England  was  quite  as  much  given  up  to  li 
centiousness  and  free  thinking,  as  either.  Read 
the  chronicles  of  those  days,  and  you  will  be  satis 
fied,  that,  as  late  as  only  one  hundred  years  ago, 
at  least  nine  out  of  ten  of  all  the  men  who  had 
any  political  influence  or  power  in  England,  as 
well  as  in  France  and  other  countries,  were  open 
and  avowed  infidels. 

The  same  thing  may  be  said  concerning  the 
state  of  religious  and  moral  sentiment,  in  our 
own  country,  some  eighty  or  one  hundred  years 
ago.  Men,  in  the  highest  position,  were  in  the 
habit  of  making  a  boast  of  their  infidel  opinions. 
The  writings  of  Tom  Paine  and  Voltaire,  were 
far  more  popular  than  the  sacred  Scriptures. 

One  member  of  Congress  was  known  to  address 
another  member,  in  a  letter,  in  which  he  asserted 
that  they  ought  to  begin  to  deal  with  preachers 
and  priests  as  they  were  doing  in  France.  This 
was  while  the  guillotine  was  in  operation.  An 
other  member  of  Congress  called  at  a  book-store 
in  Philadelphia,  to  purchase  a  Bible.  The  book 
seller  told  him  that  they  kept  no  Bibles  for  sale. 
"No  Bibles?" — inquiringly  responded  the  Congress- 


118  CHRISTIANITY  VERSUS  SLAVERY. 

man  —  "No,  sir" — returned  the  merchant,  and 
added,  "we  begin  to  think  that  the  time  is  near, 
when  the  Bible  will  be  neither  read  nor  sold  in 
Philadelphia."  The  statesman,  who  happened  to 
be  a  believer  in  the  truth  of  Revelation,  though 
not  a  church  member,  was  indignant  at  this  re 
mark,  and  administered  a  severe  but  just  rebuke ; 
"  sir,  the  Bible  will  be  read  and  sold  in  Philadel 
phia,  a  thousand  years  after  you  have  been  roast 
ing  in  hell!" 

I  have  mentioned  these  incidents,  simply  for  the 
purpose  of  conveying  a  faint  conception  of  the 
deplorable  state  of  morals  and  religion  in  these 
several  countries,  at  the  period,  when  the  bloody 
traffic  in  the  bodies  and  souls  of  men,  was  in  the 
height  of  its  glory.  It  may  truly  be  said,  that 
the  voice  of  Christianity  was  silent,  so  far  as  leg 
islation  in  civil  affairs  was  concerned,  during  all 
those  years.  Indeed,  to  attribute  this  cruel  and 
nefarious  traffic  to  any  Christian  influence  or 
power,  as  its  origin  and  source,  would  be  a  libel 
against  God  himself. 

A  great  change  has  taken  place  in  the  aspect 
of  things,  since  the  dawn  of  the  present  century. 
Christianity  is  beginning  to  achieve  her  destined 
triumphs,  and,  as  soon  as  she  gains  the  ascend- 


CHRISTIANITY  VERSUS  SLAVERY.  119 

ency  in  any  country,  the  fetters  immediately  fall 
from  the  limbs  of  the  enslaved  and  oppressed. 
To  the  persevering  efforts  of  Wilberforce,  Clark- 
son  and  other  distinguished  philanthropists  and 
statesmen,  we  justly  ascribe  the  triumph  of  the 
principles  of  justice  and  humanity,  which  resulted 
in  the  suppression  of  the  African  slave-trade.  Few 
men,  whose  names  are  emblazoned  in  history,  have 
done  more  for  their  race.  "We  believe  that  they 
were  divinely  fitted  and  raised  up,  for  the  work 
which  they  accomplished.  In  portraying,  in  the 
British  Parliament,  the  wrongs  of  bleeding  hu 
manity,  we  believe  that  it  was  the  voice  of  Jesus 
Christ  which  spoke  through  them. 

Why  should  slavery  disappear,  and  retreat  be 
fore  the  successful  and  triumphant  progress  of 
Christianity?  The  answer  is  not  obscure  or  diffi 
cult.  It  is,  essentially,  a  system  of  cruelty,  where 
as,  Christianity  is  a  system  of  mercy!  They  are 
antagonistic  systems,  and  cannot,  by  any  possibil 
ity,  be  combined,  or  made  to  coalesce.  The  most 
zealous  advocate  of  African  slavery,  would  be 
compelled,  if  he  were  candid,  to  admit  that  it  is 
a  system  of  cruelty,  oppression,  and  murder ! 

Look  at  slavery,  in  its  origin.  It  robbed  Af 
rica  of  forty  millions  of  her  children,  who  were 


120  CHRISTIANITY  VERSUS  SLAVERY. 

carried  in  chains,  and  sold  in  distant  countries. 
In  the  enslavement  of  these,  a  like  number  per 
ished,  who  were  murdered  outright,  or  died  un 
der  the  barbarities  inflicted  by  kidnappers.  Is 
it  not  a  system  of  cruelty — a  very  combination 
of  horrors — as  Thomas  Jefferson  called  it?  Can 
we  refuse  to  believe  that  it  was  the  purpose  of 
Christ's  mission  into  the  world,  to  destroy  all 
such  iniquitous  systems? 

Again,  look  at  slavery  in  its  more  matured  state, 
and  in  its  full-grown  developments,  as  it  has 
existed  in  our  Southern  States — "What  are  the 
fruits  of  the  system  during  the  last  fifty  years?" 
More  than  one  hundred  thousand  murders,  com 
mitted  by  blows  and  other  injuries,  inflicted  by 
overseers  and  masters,  for  which  no  legal  process 
was  ever  instituted — from  four  to  five  millions  of 
men,  women,  and  children,  sold  by  domestic  slave- 
traders,  and  carried  into  distant  States,  thus  de 
prived  of  all  hope  of  ever  seeing  wife,  husband, 
children,  or  parents  again — at  least  half  a  million 
of  slave-children,  sacrificed  in  infancy,  whose  death 
was  caused  by  cruelty  to  their  mothers,  at  a  period 
when  they  required  to  be  treated  with  tenderness 
and  care — laws  enacted,  putting  fetters  on  the 
mind  itself,  binding  it  down  in  ignorance,  and 


CHRISTIANITY  VERSUS  SLAVERY.  121 

debarring  it  from  all  access  to  that  knowledge, 
which  ought  to  be  as  free  as  the  air  we  breathe 
— thousands  of  aristocratic  families,  reveling  in 
luxuries  and  wealth,  the  fruits  of  slave-breeding, 
which  has  been  a  legitimate  and  creditable  occu 
pation  in  several  of  the  States.  These  are  some 
of  the  fruits  of  slavery,  during  the  last  half-cen 
tury.  Is  it  any  thing  else  but  a  system  of  cruelty 
and  murder?  When  darkness  can  dwell  with 
light,  or  exist  under  the  brightness  of  the  noon 
day  sun,  then  may  this  system  of  iniquity,  be 
brought  into  a  state  of  harmony  with  God's  system 
of  mercy. 

The  spirit  of  Christianity  breathes  "peace  on  earth 
and  good  will  to  man."  This  was  the  proclamation 
with  which  its  birth  was  announced.  But  good 
will  to  universal  man,  cannot  mean  that  some  men, 
may  bind  others,  of  their  fellow-men,  in  chains, 
and  sell  them  as  slaves. 

The  Divine  Redeemer  of  the  world,  proclaimed 
that  he  came  to  destroy  the  works  of  the  devil,  and 
to  deliver  those  who,  all  their  lives,  were  held  in 
bondage.  But  we  are  sure,  he  did  not  intend  to 
teach  that  those  whom  he  had  delivered  from  the 
power  of  their  master,  the  devil,  and  made  the 
Lord's  freedmen,  should  be  held  still  as  captives 


122  CHRISTIANITY   VERSUS    SLAVERY. 


and  slaves  by  ^iy  of  the  devil's  confederates. 
Where  he  has  lost  his  authority,  they  certainly 
can  have  no  right  to  lord  it  over  God's  children. 

The  very  essence  of  Christianity  is  love  —  love 
to  God  and  love  for  man.  "  Love  is  the  fulfilling 
of  the  law."  "  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor,  as 
thyself."  "  By  this  shall  ye  know  that  ye  are  my 
disciples,  that  ye  love  one  another."  "  If  any 
man  say  that  he  loves  God,  whom  he  hath  not 
seen,  and  hateth  his  brother,  whom  he  hath  seen, 
he  is  a  liar." 

All  the  disciples  of  Christ,  are  called  brethren. 
Can  a  man  love  his  brother  as  himself,  and  yet 
claim  the  right  to  sell  him  —  to  sell  his  wife  and 
children  —  to  cut  and  mark  his,  body  with  stripes 
—  to  deprive  him  of  all  means  of  knowledge  —  to 
exact  his  toil  with  sweat  and  stripes  and  allow 
him  no  wages!  Is  this  what  is  meant  by  the 
new  command  Christ  gave  to  his  disciples,  to 
love  one  another  ? 

But  this  question  is  not  a  novel  one.  Very 
soon  after  the  introduction  of  African  slavery  into 
this  country,  the  question  arose,  whether  Christian 
ity  does  not  enfranchise  its  converts.  "  The 
Christian  world"  —  I  now  quote  from  Bancroft's 
History  —  "  The  Christian  world  of  that  day,  almost 


CHRISTIANITY  VERSUS  SLAVERY.  123 

universally,  revered  in  Christ,  the  impersonation 
of  the  Divine  wisdom.  Could  an  intelligent  being, 
who,  through  the  Mediator,  had  participated  in  the 
Spirit  of  God,  and,  by  his  own  inward  experience, 
had  become  conscious  of  a  supreme  existence,  and 
of  relations  between  that  existence  and  humanity 
be  rightfully  held  in  bondage  ?  From  New  Eng 
land  to  Carolina,  the  notion  prevailed,  that,  '  being 
baptized  is  inconsistent  with  a  state  of  slavery  ; ' 
and  this  early  apprehension  proved  a  main  obsta 
cle  to  the  culture  and  conversion  of  these  poor 
people.  The  sentiment  was  so  deep  and  general, 
that  South  Carolina,  in  1712,  Maryland  in  1715, 
Virginia  repeatedly,  from  1667  to  1748,  gave  a 
negative  to  it  by  special  enactments." 

This  is,  certainly,  a  very  curious  and  instructive 
passage  of  history.  What  was  the  notion  which 
prevailed  "from  New  England  to  Carolina,"  and 
was  "  so  deep  and  general"  as  to  cause  masters  to 
deprive  their  slaves  of  all  means  of  religious  in 
struction  and  conversion,  lest  they  should  lose 
their  right  of  ownership  in  them?  It  was  the 
notion,  that,  if  they  should  be  converted,  and  re 
ceived  into  the  Church  by  the  holy  ordinance  of 
baptism,  they  could  no  longer  be  rightfully  held 
in  a  state  of  slavery.  Under  the  influence  of  this 


124  CHRISTIANITY   VERSUS   SLAVERY. 

general  and  deep  religious  conviction,  the  conver 
sion  of  a  slave,  if  he  belonged  to  a  Christian 
master,  necessarily  secured  his  manumission. 

From  what  source,  did  the  Christians  of  that 
early  day,  obtain  this  deep  and  almost  universal 
religious  impression?  Let  the  modern  advocates 
of  slavery,  who  claim  to  belong  to  the  Chris 
tian  brotherhood,  answer. 

But  the  prevalence  of  this  sentiment,  was  an 
obstacle  in  the  way  of  the  religious  instruction 
and  conversion  of  the  poor  slaves.  For,  as,  in 
the  case  of  a  majority  of  the  planters,  their  cupid 
ity  and  avarice  preponderated  over  their  religious 
convictions,  they  adopted  measures  to  keep  these 
Africans  in  ignorance,  and  to  prevent  their  con 
version,  lest  they  should  lose  their  right  of  prop 
erty  in  them,  as  slaves.  The  State  legislatures 
had  to  take  up  the  subject,  and  enact  special  laws, 
urging  and  enforcing  on  masters  the  observance 
of  those  duties,  in  the  treatment  of  their  slaves, 
which  every  dictate  of  reason,  as  well  as  religion, 
required.  But  these  enactments  failed  to  have 
the  desired  effect,  as  the  love  of  lucre  was  stronger 
than  piety  in  the  hearts  of  the  masters,  and  they 
were  not  willing  to  let  their  slaves  be  converted, 
till  the  legislatures  had  solemnly  declared,  by  a 


CHRISTIANITY  VERSUS   SLAVERY.  125 

legislative  act,  that  a  converted  and  baptized  slave, 
might  be  lawfully  and  consistently  held  in  a  state 
of  bondage.  But,  so  strong  and  deep  was  the 
general  religious  conviction  to  the  contrary  of 
this,  that  one  single  legislative  decision  was  not 
sufficient.  The  enactment  had  to  be  repeated  again 
and  again,  and  by  different  legislatures,  before  the 
conscience  of  those  Christian  masters  had  become 
schooled  up  to  the  point  of  permitting  them,  to 
keep  and  hold  a  Christian  brother  or  sister  as  a 
slave. 

This,  to  say  .the  least,  was  rather  Nan  anomalous 
proceeding  ;  politicians,  worldly-minded  and  selfish 
men,  many  of  whom  were,  doubtless,  infidels,  meet 
ing  in  solemn  deliberation,  to  settle  a  point  in 
religious  morals ;  and,  by  a  legislative  enactment, 
declaring  that  to  be  right  and  moral,  which  Chris 
tians  generally,  on  their  understanding  of  what 
Christ  had  enacted  in  his  word,  had  believed  to 
be  wrong. 

But  they  settled  the  question.  And  this  fact  in 
history,  is  to  be  remembered  by  the  advocates  of 
slavery.  The  Assembly  of  South  Carolina,  and 
other  assemblies,  mere  secular  bodies,  who  had  no 
authority  to  legislate  in  matters  of  religious  faith, 
established  the  morality  of  holding  a  Christian 


126  CHRISTIANITY   VERSUS   SLAVERY. 

man  or  woman  in  bondage,  in  opposition  to  the 
universal  sentiment  of  the  Church  in  those  days. 

And  now,  let  us  see  what  the  Apostle  Paul  has 
said  and  written  on  this  identical  subject,  the 
holding  of  Christian  brethren  in  a  state  of  slavery. 

"  Masters,  give  unto  your  servants,  that  which 
is  just  and  equal,  knowing  that  ye,  also,  have  a 
master  in  Heaven." 

Here  is  a  law,  an  enactment,  ordained  by  the 
highest  authority,  which,  if  universally  observed, 
would  lead  to  universal  emancipation,  in  every 
country  where  Christian  law  prevails.  The  duty 
of  the  master  is  stated,  with  the  motive  to  its  per 
formance.  Give  to  your  servants,  that  which  jus 
tice  and  equity  require.  This  is  the  duty,  stated  in 
terms  so  clear,  as  not  to  be  misunderstood,  except 
wilfully.  And  the  motive  to  the  performance  of 
this  duty,  is,  the  knowledge  the  master  has,  that 
he  is  himself  a  servant — that  Christ  is  his  Master, 
and  he  must,  therefore,  do  unto  his  servant  as  he 
would  have  Christ  his  master  in  Heaven,  do  unto 
him. 

Under  the  operation  of  such  a  law  as  this,  no 
service  rendered,  could  be  without  its  just  reward. 
It  would  insure  to  the  slave  all  the  education  and 
training  essential  to  his  happiness  in  this  world, 


CHRISTIANITY   VERSUS   SLAVERY.  127 

and  his  preparation  for  another.  It  would  afford 
a  sure  guarantee  against  being  forcibly  separated 
from  his  wife — against  having  his  children  sold, 
or  being  sold  himself  to  some  merciless  tyrant. 
In  short,  such  a  law,  if  generally  observed,  would 
abolish  slavery  throughout  the  world. 

Admit  that  there  are  precepts  which  seem  to 
sanction  slavery,  as  one  of  the  institutions  existing 
at  the  time,  when  Christianity  was  born.  They 
sanction  it,  only  in  such  a  negative  manner,  as  to 
prohibit  Christians  from  putting  themselves  in  ar 
ray  against  existing  governments,  and  such  politi 
cal  and  social  institutions  as  had  originated  under 
those  governments. 

"  Let  as  many  servants,  as  are  under  the  yoke, 
count  their  own  masters  worthy  of  all  honor." 
Why  is  this  precept  given?  The  reason  is  im 
mediately  annexed — "that  the  name  of  God  and 
his  doctrine  be  not  blasphemed," — that  is  to  say, 
that  the  heathen  powers  that  rule  be  not  pro 
voked  to  deny  Christ  and  to  make  war  upon  the 
infant  church. 

We  know,  that,  if  the  apostles  had  put  them 
selves  in  opposition  to  the  civil  or  political  insti 
tutions  of  their  day  ;  if,  for  example,  they  had 
commanded  masters  to  liberate  their  slaves  on  the 


128  CHRISTIANITY   VERSUS   SLAVERY. 

ground  that  all  slavery  is  a  sin ;  or,  if  they  had 
exhorted  servants  to  desert  their  masters,  for  the 
reason  that  they  had  no  right  to  hold  them  in 
bondage,  every  political  power  of  that  age,  and 
the  whole  heathen  world  would  have  conspired 
for  the  destruction  of  the  church.  Therefore,  sub 
mission  was  inculcated,  even  to  the  enforcement 
of  unjust  and  unrighteous  laws.  Hear  the  great 
apostle  once  more ; 

"  Submit  yourselves  to  every  ordinance  of  man, 
for  the  Lord's  sake.  For  so  is  the  will  of  God, 
that  with  well-doing,  ye  may  put  to  silence,  the 
ignorance  of  foolish  men  ;  as  free,  and  not  using 
your  liberty  for  a  cloak  of  maliciousness,  but  as 
the  servants  of  God.  Honor  all  men.  Love  the 
brotherhood.  Fear  God.  Honor  the  king.  Ser 
vants,  be  subject  to  your  masters  with  all  fear,  not 
only  to  the  good  and  gentle,  but  also  to  the  fro- 
war  d.  For  this  is  thank-worthy,  if  a  man  for 
conscience  toward  God,  endure  grief,  suffering 
wrongfully." 

Have  the  advocates  of  opposition,  pondered 
these  significant  words  ?  "  It  is  thank-worthy" — 
that  is,  it  is  commendable,  that  a  Christian,  who 
is,  at  the  same  time,  a  slave,  "  endure  grief,  suffer 
ing  wrongfully"  for  conscience  towards  God ;  or, 


CHRISTIANITY   VERSUS   SLAVERY.  129 

because  God  requires  him,  in  the  present  emer 
gency,  to  be  patient,  and  submit  to  every  ordi 
nance  of  man.  Does  such  language  imply  any 
approbation  of  the  system  of  wrong,  under  which 
the  slave  thus  endures  grief,  and  pines  away  in 
useless  sighs  for  freedom? 

The  Apostle  Paul  assumed  the  responsibility 
of  emancipating  a  slave,  who  belonged  not  to 
himself,  but  to  another.  Perhaps  this  statement 
is  rather  too  strong ;  and  I  qualify  it,  by  saying, 
.that  he  wrote  such  a  letter  to  Philemon,  in  be 
half  of  Onesimus,  that  it  had  been  impossible  for 
Philemon  longer  to  have  kept  him  in  involuntary 
servitude.  I  will  quote  the  passage  entire : 

"Wherefore,  though  I  might  be  much  bold  in 
Christ,  to  inform  thee  that  which  is  convenient, 
yet,  for  love's  sake,  I  rather  beseech  thee,  being 
such  a  one  as  Paul  the  aged,  and  now  also  a 
prisoner  of  Jesus  Christ.  I  beseech  thee  for  my 
son  Onesimus,  whom  I  have  begotten  in  my 
bonds,  which  in  time  past,  was  to  thee  unprofit 
able,  but  now,  profitable  to  thee  and  to  me ; 
whom  I  have  sent  again  ;  thou  therefore  receive 
him,  that  is,  mine  own  bowels;  whom  I  would 
have  retained  with  me,  that,  in  thy  stead,  he 
might  have  ministered  unto  me  in  the  bonds  of 


130  CHRISTIANITY   VERSUS   SLAVERY. 

the  Gospel ;  but  without  thy  mind,  would  I  do 
nothing,  that  thy  benefit  should  not  be,  as  it 
were,  of  necessity,  but  willingly.  For,  perhaps, 
he  therefore  departed  for  a  season,  that  thou 
shouldst  receive  him  forever ;  not  now  as  a 
servant,  but  above  a  servant,  a  brother  beloved, 
especially  to  me,  but  how  much  more  unto  thee, 
both  in  the  flesh,  and  in  the  Lord?  If  thou 
count  me,  therefore,  a  partner,  receive  him  as  my 
self.  If  he  hath  wronged  thee,  or  oweth  aught, 
put  that  on  mine  account;  I  Paul  have  written 
it  with  mine  own  hand,  I  will  repay  it ;  albeit 
I  do  not  say  to  thee,  how  thou  owest  unto  me 
even  thine  own  self  besides.  Yea,  brother,  let 
me  have  joy  of  thee  in  the  Lord  ;  refresh  my 
bowels  in  the  Lord.  Having  confidence  in  thy 
obedience,  I  wrote  unto  thee,  knowing  that  thou 
wilt  also  do  more  than  I  say." 

What  a  tender  and  loving  appeal  is  this  whole 
letter — though  he  might  have  used  the  language 
of  command,  yet,  for  love's  sake,  he  chose  to  em 
ploy  the  language  of  entreaty,  in  behalf  of  Onesi- 
mus — I  beseech  thee  for  my  son  Onesimus.  He 
speaks  of  him  as  his  son,  his  own  bowels — and 
exhorts  Philemon  to  receive  him  as  himself,  that 
is,  with  all  the  marks  of  esteem  and  brotherly 


CHRISTIANITY   VERSUS   SLAVERY.  131 

love,  with  which  he  would  have  received  the 
great  Apostle.  He  exhorts  him,  to  receive  him, 
not  as  a  slave,  or  servant,  but  above  a  servant — as 
a  brother  beloved,  both  in  the  flesh,  and  in  the  Lord. 
Does  not  this  imply  a  command  to  Philemon,  to 
liberate  his  slave,  to  set  Onesimus  free,  since  he 
is  now  a  brother  beloved  in  the  Lord  ? 

He  intimates  that  he  would  have  retained 
Onesimus  with  him,  as  he  had  a  right,  but  he 
sends  him  back,  not  to  be  a  slave  again,  but  that 
he,  Philemon,  might  perform  the  favor  or  benefit 
which  he  solicited,  willingly,  or  voluntarily,  and 
not  from  necessity  or  constraint. 

Paul  knew  that  Philemon  would  do  what  he 
requested — "having  confidence  in  thy  obedience,  I 
wrote  unto  thee,  knowing  that  thou  wilt  also  do 
more  than  I  say." 

And    what    was    the    result?      Onesimus    was 
emancipated.     He    was    never    held    in    bondage 
another  day.     And  we  may  believe  that  a  brother 
in  Christ,  so  highly  commended   as  Philemon,  re 
garded  as   an  occasion  for  devout   gratitude,  the 
privilege   of  performing    an   act    of  kindness,  at 
once   so  just  and   so  consonant  to   the   Spirit  of 
Christ. 
We  afterwards  find  Onesimus  as  a  fellow-laborer 


132  CHRISTIANITY   VERSUS   SLAVERY. 

with  Paul,  in  the  bonds  of  the  Gospel,  and  em 
ployed  by  him  as  a  messenger  to  the  churches. 
He  finally  settled  at  Ephesus,  and  became  its 
bishop  as  we  are  informed  by  St.  Ignatius,  and 
his  memory  is  cherished  by  many,  as  one  of  the 
martyrs  of  the  church. 

Now,  in  this  case,  I  confess  that  I  see  an  act 
of  emancipation,  based  solely  on  the  ground,  that 
the  enslaved  had  become,  spiritually,  the  son,  and 
therefore  the  equal  of  Paul  himself— had  become 
the  brother,  and  therefore  the  equal  of  Philemon 
the  master,  and  beloved  in  the  Lord.  It  was  on 
this  ground  alone,  that  his  freedom  was  solicited, 
and  that  it  was  granted. 

The  case  may,  or  may  not,  furnish  a  general 
rule  or  principle,  which  may  apply  to  all  similar 
cases.  I  undertake  not  to  determine.  But  I  may 
be  allowed  to  say  that  I  feel  truly  grateful  that 
though  I  have  lived  so  many  years  in  the  midst 
of  the  evils  of  slavery,  I  have  never  claimed  the 
right  of  ownership  or  property,  in  one  of  Christ's 
brethren. 


133 


X. 

THE  VOICE  OF  BLOOD. 

MURDER  is  a  crime  that  never  goes  unpunished ! 
We  may  not  know  what  mark  was  branded  on 
the  first  murderer,  Cain;  but  we  do  know  the 
malediction  of  the  Most  High  fell  on  him,  and 
he  became  a  fugitive  and  a  vagabond  in  the  earth. 
And,  doubtless,  the  complaint  which  fell  from  his 
lips,  "  my  punishment  is  greater  than  I  can  bear"  has 
found  an  echo,  in  the  heart  of  every  one,  who  in 
any  age  or  country  since,  has  imbrued  his  hands 
in  the  blood  of  a  fellow-being. 

Let  the  murderer  go  where  he  will,  he  feels  that 
he  is  but  a  fugitive  and  a  vagabond.  The  anger 
of  God  has  burned  his  guilt  deep  into  his  con 
science. 

He  may  escape  the  penalty  affixed  to  his  crime 
by  the  laws  of  the  land.  He  may  conceal  his 
crime  from  the  knowledge  of  men,  but  he  can 
not  hide  it  from  himself,  nor  from  the  all-seeing 


134  THE   VOICE   OF   BLOOD. 

eye  of  his  Maker.  Wherever  he  goes,  in  whatever 
country  he  may  seek  to  be  unknown,  the  curse 
goes  with  him,  the  voice  of  his  brother's  blood 
seeming,  every  where,  to  rise  out  of  the  very 
ground,  on  which  he  treads,  and  crying  for  ven 
geance.  He  may  shift  from  one  scene  of  revelry 
and  merriment,  to  another,  to  drown  thought. 
But  'tis  all  in  vain ;  he  is  not,  and  he  cannot  be, 
a  happy  man.  The  curse  of  the  Almighty  is  rest 
ing  on  him.  The  uneasy  and  anxious  counte 
nance,  and  the  restless  eye,  betray  a  soul  ill  at 
ease. 

0,  have  you  ever  known  one  who  had  the  guilt 
of  murder  on  his  conscience  1  He  can  hardly  trust 
himself  alone,  and  yet,  he  seems  as  if  he  would 
avoid  all  intercourse  with  his  fellow-men.  He  is 
afraid  his  dreadful  secret  will  be  disclosed,  and 
yet,  it  is  with  difficulty,  he  can  keep  from  betray 
ing  that  secret  himself.  He  bears  in  his  own 
bosom,  the  punishment  of  his  crime,  which  he 
would  fain  expiate  on  the  scaffold,  if  only  he 
dared  to  brave  public  sentiment,  and  bring  dis 
grace  on  his  family  by  letting  the  world  know, 
that  he  bears  the  mark  of  Cain  on  his  forehead. 
Yea,  the  curse  of  the  Almighty  pursues  the  mur 
derer  ! 


THE  VOICE  OP   BLOOD.  135 

No  decree  can  be  more  just  than  that  which 
was  long  ago  enacted;  "Whoso  sheddeth  man's 
blood,  by  man  shall  his  blood  be  shed."  Not 
only  does  the  felon,  who  deprives  another  of  exist 
ence,  take  away  that  which  he  cannot  restore, 
butvif  we  can  understand  the  inspired  declaration 

«  for  in  the  image  of   God  created    he  him" — he 

mars  that  Divine  image,  as  originally  impressed 
on  the  soul  of  man.  And  from  the  connection  in 
which  that  declaration  stands  recorded,  we  may 
fairly  infer  that  there  is  no  crime  which  trans 
cends  this. 

I  acknowledge,  I  am  one  of  those  who  believe 
that  "  no  murderer  hath  eternal  life  abiding  in  him." 
It  may  be  wrong,  but  still,  I  cannot  banish  from 
my  mind  the  doubt,  whether  one,  who  has,  delib 
erately,  and  with  malice  aforethought,  stained  his 
soul  with  the  crime  of  murder,  can  be  pardoned, 
either  in  this  world,  or  the  next.  "He  has  not 
only  deprived  his  victim  of  life,  but,  it  may  be, 
has  sent  that  victim,  unprepared,  to  the  doom  of 
a  miserable  eternity!  And  it  revolts  our  sense 
of  justice,  to  suppose  that  he  is  pardoned,  and 
enjoys  the  favor  of  God,  through  a  blissful  eter 
nity,  while  his  victim  is  suffering  the  vengeance 
of  God. 


136  THE   VOICE   OF   BLOOD. 

I  have  been  with  a  condemned  criminal,  in 
his  prison.  I  knew^that  he  had  a  murderer's 
heart.  Moved  by  the  spirit  of  revenge,  he  had 
sought  his  victim,  and,  at  the  dark  hour  of  mid 
night,  had  deliberately  shot  him  through  the  heart. 
I  did  not  feel  prompted  by  at  sense  of  Chris 
tian  duty,  to  kneel  down  and  offer  up  a  prayer 
for  his  pardon.  The  conviction  was  so  strong 
in  my  mind,  that  there  could  be  no  pardon  for 
him,  that  I  dared  not  do  it.  And  I  left  the  cell, 
without  even  making  the  attempt.  I  may  have 
been  wrong,  but  I  could  not  resist  my  convictions, 
nor  act  contrary  to  them.  I  had  known  the  vic 
tim  of  his  revenge,  and  had  reason  to  believe' 
that,  though  a  better  man  than  the  murderer,  he 
was  quite  unprepared  for  his  sudden  and  unex 
pected  exit  to  worlds  unknown. 

I  have  said  that  African  slavery  was  a  system 
of  wholesale  murder.  At  whose  hand,  is  the 
blood  of  the  millions  slain  by  it,  now  required? 
The  Decree  of  Justice,  against  the  crime  of  murder, 
has  never  been  repealed.  And  the  Eternal,  we 
may  be  sure,  will  take  care  for  the  inviolability  of 
His  own  law.  The  execution  of  that  law  may  be 
sometimes,  and  often  is,  long  delayed,  yet  the 
wicked  shall  not,  for  that  reason,  go  unpunished. 


THE  VOICE  OF   BLOOD.  137 

Retributive  justice  must,  soon  or  late,  overtake 
the  guilty. 

In  the  book  of  God's  remembrance,  the  system 
of  African  slavery,  is  charged  with  the  guilt  of 
the  murder  of  many  millions  of  his  children, 
formed  originally  in  his  own  image.  Rigid  jus 
tice  demands  an  atonement.  And,  unless  the  De 
cree,  quoted  above,  has  been  repealed,  an  atone 
ment  will  be  exacted  in  blood.  And  because  this 
shed  blood  has  been  crying  so  long  unavenged, 
must  we  suppose,  either  that  God  does  not  hear, 
or  that  he  will  not  attend  to  that  cry  at  last  ? 

Historical  writers  have  told  us,  that,  for  the 
forty  millions  of  the  inhabitants  of  Africa,  torn 
from  their  native  country,  and  made  slaves  in 
America,  an  equal  number  were  cruelly  put  to 
death,  in  various  ways,  by  those  emissaries  of  hell, 
who  were  employed  in  the  infernal  trade.  Will 
there  be  no  final  reckoning  for  this? — no  party, 
who  will  be  held  accountable  at  the  bar  of  the 
Great  Judge,  for  this  lavish  waste  of  human  life  ? 

And  here,  it  may  be  proper  to  note  this  strik 
ing  and  essential  difference  between  African  sla 
very,  and  every  other  form  of  slavery  ever  known 
in  the  world.  Can  we  suppose,  that,  even  Abra 
ham  would  have  been  guiltless  in  the  sight  of 


138  THE  VOICE   OF   BLOOD. 

God,  if  he  had  imported  his  slaves  thousands  of 
miles,  from  another  continent,  in  dark  and  sus 
picious  looking  vessels,  manned  by  pirates,  at  a 
cost  of,  at  least,  one  murder  committed  for  every 
slave  obtained?  Would  the  ancient  Hebrews 
have  been  sinless,  in  the  matter  of  slavery,  if  they 
had  been  guilty  of  the  same  nefarious  practice? 
Their  bondmen  were  natives  of  the  soil.  .But  yet, 
the  Jews  made  no  attempt  to  enslave  them,  till 
they  had  received  an  express  command  from  their 
Divine  Legislator,  to  do  so.  Even  the  heathen 
nations,  of  the  Roman  Empire,  who  held  slaves, 
had  at  least  the  shadow  of  justice  in  the  title,  by 
which  they  held  them ;  as  they  had  been  taken  as 
captives  in  the  wars  with  neighboring  States,  or 
had  been  sold  to  them  for  debt.  In  short,  this 
system  of  modern  slavery,  considered  simply  with 
reference  to  its  origin,  is  as  much  blacker  than 
those  ancient  forms  of  bondage,  as  the  age  of 
Christianity,  exceeds  in  brightness,  the  ages  of 
darkness,  when  those  ancient  forms  of  slavery  pre 
vailed. 

The  question  still  recurs,  who  will  be  held  to  a 
rigid  account,  for  all  this  bloodshed  ?  Suppose 
that  they  were  tender  and  helpless  babes,  whose 
brains  were  dashed  out  against  the  trunk  of  a 


THE  VOICE   OF   BLOOD.  139 

tree — Suppose  that  they  were  aged  and  infirm 
men  and  women,  valueless  as  slaves,  and  unable 
to  endure  the  fatigues  of  the  march  to  the  coast, 
who  were  therefore  shot  down,  or  stabbed,  and 
left  weltering  in  their  blood — Suppose  that  others 
were  consumed  in  the  fire  of  their  own  dwellings — 
Suppose  that  many  perished,  from  fatigue  and  ex 
haustion,  in  the  hurried  march,  naked  and  bare 
foot,  over  burning  sands,  to  the  coast — Suppose 
that  many  more  died  of  a  broken  heart,  or  of  fever 
and  other  diseases  contracted  from  the  foul  and 
pestilential  air,  in  the  confined  hold  of  the  ship — 
or,  suppose  that,  sick  and  dying,  they  were  thrown 
overboard,  to  feed  the  sharks  ;  who  is  responsible 
for  so  many  millions  of  murders,  committed  under 
the  full  blaze  and  light  of  the  sun  of  heaven  ? 

It  avails  naught,  to  say  that  nobody  will  be 
held  responsible.  Nor,  is  it  a  satisfactory  an 
swer,  to  say,  that  the  guilt  belongs  solely  to  the 
kidnappers,  or  the  persons  immediately  engaged  in 
the  slave-trade.  What  were  they,  but  the  mere 
instruments  or  agents  of  others?  Would  they 
have  robbed  Africa,  if  there  had  not  been  a 
market  for  the  spoils?  The  people  who  kept 
that  market  open,  were  the  people  who  tempted 
the  kidnappers  to  engage  in  the  traffic — who 


140  THE  VOICE   OF  BLOOD. 

paid  them  for  it — and,  in  fact,  employed  them 
as  their  agents,  while  thus  carrying  on  a  trade, 
marked,  at  every  step,  by  rapine  and  bloodshed! 

If  the  colonies  of  "Virginia  and  the  Carolinas 
had  acted  as  did  the  colony  of  Georgia,  under 
Oglethorpe's  administration, — or  as  did  the  peo 
ple  of  New  England,  when  the  first  cargo  of  Af 
ricans  was  landed  on  their  coast ;  who  raised 
such  a  cry  of  indignation,  against  the  owners  of 
the  ship,  that  they  were  arrested  as  malefactors 
and  murderers,  and  the  cargo  of  slaves  were  sent 
back  to  their  native  country,  at  the  public  ex 
pense.  If  those  colonies  had  acted  in  this  spirit, 
and  persisted  in  such  a  course,  there  would  have 
been  no  slavery  in  this  country.  The  kidnappers 
would  have  had  no  patrons,  and  for  the  want  of 
patronage,  would  have  been  compelled  to  betake 
themselves  to  some  useful  occupation. 

Those  colonists  must  have  known  what  they 
were  doing,  when  they  created  the  slave  market, 
and  threw  its  doors  wide  open,  inviting  the  kid 
nappers  to  enter  upon  their  hellish  trade.  They 
knew  that  every  slave  imported  was  the  purchase 
of  blood  and  crime.  They  knew  that  every  slave- 
ship  which  arrived  on  the  coast,  had  buried  its 
scores  of  murdered  victims,  in  the  depths  of  the 


THE  VOICE   OF   BLOOD.  141 

ocean.     They  were  not  ignorant  of  the  cruelties 
and  horrors  of  the  slave-trade. 

We  are  driven,  therefore,  to  the  conclusion, 
that  the  states  which  kept  the  market,  and  encour 
aged  and  rewarded  the  kidnappers,  while  carry 
ing  on  the  diabolical  traffic,  are,  really,  the  guilty 
and  responsible  parties. 

It  is  now  two  hundred  and  forty-three  years, 
since  the  first  cargo  of  slaves  was  landed  on  our" 
shores.  And  what  does  the  history  of  the  pecu 
liar  institution  exhibit,  as  it  has  existed  in  these 
states,  during  that  period  ?  I  do  not  exaggerate, 
when  I  say,  that  the  blood  of  not  less  than  two 
hundred  thousand  slaves,  is  crying  to  heaven  for 
vengeance,  from  this  soil  of  freedom,  whose  death 
was  caused  by  blows  and  wounds  inflicted,  in  the 
severity  of  punishment,  by  the  inhumanity  of  mas 
ters  and  overseers.  There  has  been  no  reckoning, 
no  atonement.  The  law  of  man  did  not  even 
demand  a  legal  investigation.  Their  life  was 
crushed  out  of  them,  by  a  crime,  but  no  notice 
was  taken  thereof.  May  we  suppose,  or  can  we 
believe  that  the  Divine  Legislator,  will,  in  like 
manner,  ignore  the  existence  of  his  law  against 
crime,  and  pass  by  this  numerous  class  of  offend 
ers  and  murderers,  without  the  least  notice.  Will 


142  THE   VOICE   OF    BLOOD. 

He  also  turn  a  deaf  ear  to  those  unavailing  cries 
for  mercy,  which  those  murdered  slaves  poured 
in  vain  in  the  ears  of  the  tyrants,  when  sinking 
under  the  hand  of  violence,  into  death? 

No  !  His  law  is  perfect,  and  so  rigidly  just,  that, 
not  the  slightest  infraction  thereof,  can  go  unno 
ticed  !  We  believe  this — we  must  believe  it,  if  we 
believe  in  His  existence  at  all ! 

About  the  year  1832,  I  spent  a  few  months 
in  Greene  County,  in  the  State  of  Alabama. 
It  was  the  first  year  of  my  residence  in  the 
Slave  States.  In  the  immediate  neighborhood, 
where  I  sojourned,  there  was  a  lady,  the  wife 
of  a  planter,  who  beat  a  young  servant  girl, 
aged  about  twelve  years,  in  such  a  cruel  man 
ner,  as  to  cause  her  death.  She  had  struck  her 
a  number  of  times  with  a  heavy  stick,  or  blud 
geon,  and,  perhaps,  in  a  state  of  excitement  and 
anger,  inflicted  blows  of  such  a  nature,  as  that  she 
died  soon  after.  But  no  notice  was  ever  taken 
of  the  matter,  further  than  to  cause  a  little  talk 
in  the  immediate  neighborhood,  at  the  time. 

I  knew  a  wealthy  planter,  who  resided  in  an 
other  State,  some  years  ago.  He  was  a  native 
Southron,  who  had  led  a  very  dissolute  and  in 
temperate  life.  On  one  occasion,  as  if  in  sheer 


THE  VOICE  OF    BLOOD.  143 

sport,  he  caught  up  one  of  his  negro  children  by 
the  feet,  and  swinging  it  around  violently,  in  the 
air,  dashed  its  head  against  a  horse-block,  in  the 
yard,  so  that  the  blood  spurted  from  its  nostrils 
and  mouth,  causing  its  death,  almost  instantane 
ously.  The  body  was  buried,  of  course  ;  and,  if 
it  had  a  soul,  as  I  presume  it  had,  it  passed  away 
to  eternity  and  to  God,  and,  for  aught  we  know 
to  the  contrary,  was  permitted  to  rehearse  to  the 
Universal  Father,  the  circumstances  by  which  it 
was  so  unceremoniously  hurried  home.  But  no 
charge  was  ever  preferred  against  the  planter. 
No  jury  was  impanneled  to  try  his  case.  No 
legal  action  whatever  was  ever  taken..  He  was 
a  wealthy  man,  and  the  child  was  his  own  prop 
erty. 

Another  wealthy  planter,  on  the  coast,  not  far 
from  New  Orleans,  was  tried  by  a  court,  for  the 
murder  of  a  slave,  one  of  his  own,  a  small  boy, 
six  or  seven  years  old.  But  he  had  money,  and 
he  was  easily  acquitted.  To  punish  one  of  his 
female  domestics,  a  handsome  mulatto  woman,  for 
her  obstinacy  in  not  yielding  to  his  unlawful 
desires,  he  put  her  little  son  in  the  bake-oven,  and 
caused  it  to  be  heated  to  euch  a  degree,  that  he 
lived  but  a  few  minutes,  after  being  extricated. 


144  THE  VOICE   OF   BLOOD. 

That  planter  is  still  living  ;  but  as  he  is  a  rebel, 
and  has  gone  beyond  the  lines,  into  the  Confed 
eracy,  I  presume  his  large  property  has  been,  or 
will  be  confiscated. 

A  soldier  in  the  regiment,  with  which  I  am 
connected,  relates  that  he  has  been  twice  cap 
tured,  as  a  runaway,  by  bloodhounds.  I  am  not 
aware  that  any  law  has  ever  been  enacted,  in  any 
Slave  State,  to  put  a  stop  to  this  savage  prac 
tice.  There  are  men  who  keep  hounds,  and  make 
a  business  of  catching  runaways,  and  are  paid  so 
much  per  head.  The  same  soldier  mentions  the 
case  of  a  slave  he  knew,  who  was  so  lacerated 
and  torn  by  these  ferocious  animals,  before  the 
owners  could  come  up  with  them,  that  he  actu 
ally  died.  He  himself  escaped  the  same  horrible 
fate,  only  by  ascending  into  a  tree,  when  he  found 
that  he  was  about  to  be  caught.  Perhaps  this 
was  not  strictly  a  case  of  murder,  as  the  killing 
was  done  by  the  bloodhounds.  But  will  the 
Author  of  life  hold  the  bloodhounds  responsible, 
for  the  loss  of  life  in  such  a  case,  instead  of  the 
owners  ?  Or  can  the  State  be  considered  as  guilt 
less,  that  tolerates  and  allows  of  such  a  practice  ? 

I  might  easily  fill  up  a  volume,  by  detailing  in 
cidents   and   facts  of   this   kind.     But  this  is  not 


*THE  VOICE   OF   BLOOD.  145 

my  design,  although  I  would  do  so,  if  I  considered 
it  necessary  to  aid  the  cause  of  humanity,  giving 
facts  and  dates,  with  the  names  of  parties  and 
witnesses.  But  my  purpose  has  been  simply  to 
show  that  the  lives  of  slaves  have  been  almost 
absolutely  at  the  disposal  of  their  owners,  and 
the  merciless  task-masters  who  had  charge  of 
them,  and  that  the  State  legislatures  have  not  af 
forded  them  that  protection,  to  which,  as  subjects 
of  God's  Government,  and  a  part  of  the  great 
family  of  man,  they  were  entitled. 

The  miserable  tyrants  are  aware  of  this.  They 
know  that  the  African  slaves  have  not  been  dealt 
with,  as  if  they  were  men.  And,  therefore,  they 
have  adopted  a  theory  in  accordance  with  their 
practice.  They  affect  to  believe  that  they  are  an 
inferior  race  of  beings,  altogether  different  from 
the  white  or  European  race,  and  not  many  de 
grees  removed  from  the  baboon  tribes,  and  to  be, 
accordingly,  treated  as  other  irrational  animals. 
This  theory  was  designed  as  an  apology  and  ex 
cuse  for  their  inhumanity  to  their  slaves. 

The  day  of  retribution  has  come  at  last !  The 
innocent  blood  that  has  been  shed  in  this  land, 
has  not  cried  so  long  to  Heaven  for  vengeance, 
in  vain ! 


146 


XI. 
RACHEL'S  LAMENTATION. 

HARK!  what  voice  was  that,  heard  in  Rama? 
"The  voice  of  lamentation,  and  weeping,  and 
great  'mourning,  Rachel  weeping  for  her  children, 
and  would  not  be  comforted,  because  they  are 
not," 

Herod,  that  monster  of  iniquity,  than  whom  a 
more  cruel  tyrant  never  sat  on  a  throne,  finding 
that  he  had  been  mocked  of  the  wise  men,  who 
came  from  the  East  to  worship  the  Infant  Jesus, 
issued  a  decree  that  all  the  children  of  Bethle 
hem,  and  the  coasts  round  about,  should  be  put  to 
death.  Under  this  bloody  edict,  some  hundreds, 
perhaps  several  thousands  of  .tender  and  helpless 
babes,  were  torn  from  their  mothers7  embrace, 
and  cruelly  slaughtered. 

The  intention  of  the  decree,  was,  to  cut  off  the 
infant  Saviour,  whose  advent  to  the  world  had 
been  proclaimed  by  angels.  I  presume  not  to 


147 


decide  what  share  this  event  may  have  had  in  the 
fearful  retribution  which  fell  upon  the  guilty  city 
and  capital  of  the  nation,  from  which  that  edict 
was  issued,  seventy  years  afterwards.  But  history 
tells  us  that  more  than  a  million  of  the  inhabit 
ants  perished  miserably,  who  were  put  to  the 
sword,  or  died  of  famine.  During  the  siege,  deli 
cate  females  fed  on  the  flesh  of  their  own  babes, 
to  appease  the  gnawings  of  their  hunger. 

There  is  another  similar  record  in  history,  still 
more  ancient,  of  the  wholesale  slaughter  of  young 
children,  with  the  retribution  which  followed,  but 
stated  in  such  terms  as  to  leave  no  doubt  as  "to 
the  connection  between  the  crime  and  the  punish 
ment. 

The  king  of  Egypt,  in  order  to  prevent  the  too 
rapid  increase  of  the  Hebrews,  ordered  that  all 
their  male  children,  should  be  strangled  at  their 
birth.  How  just  and  striking  was  the  retribution, 
that  was  visited  on  the  whole  land  of  Egypt! 
The  Lord  sent  a  destroying  angel,  which  passed 
over  the  land,  and  slew  the  first-born  in  every  house 
of  the  Egyptians,  from  the  first-born  of  the  king 
that  was  heir  to  the  throne,  to  the  first-born  of 
the  humblest  peasant.  Here  was  blood  for  blood  ! 

If   the  slave-holders    in  this  country,  had  riot, 


148  RACHEL'S  LAMENTATION. 

every  year,  destroyed  the  infant  children  of  their 
slaves,  thereby  preventing  their  rapid  increase,  the 
Africans,  would,  long  ago,  have  been  the  ruling 
power  in  America.  The  forty  millions  transported 
from  Africa,  and  brought  hither,  would  certainly 
have  outnumbered,  two  to  one,  the  whole  number 
of  Europeans  who  have  emigrated  to  this  conti 
nent.  They  are  known  to  be  a  prolific  race,  and 
I  see  no  reason,  why  the  forty  millions  should  not 
have  doubled,  at  least  once,  in  the  course  of  two 
or  three  centuries  which  would  have  given  a  popu 
lation  of  eighty  millions  at  the  present  time.  But 
instead  of  this  number,  there  are  not  over  ten 
millions  of  Africans  in  all  America.  Where  are 
the  seventy  millions?  What  is  the  cause  of  this 
extraordinary  decrease  ? 

I  affirm  that  a  system  of  infanticide  has  pre 
vailed,  by  which  their  infants  have  been  annually 
offered  up,  by  tens  of  thousands,  as  victims  on  the 
altar  of  the  slave-god ! 

I  know  that  this  is  a  grave  charge,  to  bring 
against  slave-holders,  and  the  states  that  have  up 
held  and  supported  the  institution.  But  I  make 
the  charge  under  a  full  sense  of  my  responsibility, 
and  proceed  to  the  proof. 

Every  one,  who  knows  any  thing  of  the  statis- 


RACHEL'S  LAMENTATION.  149 

tics  of  slavery,  is  aware  that  in  every  country,  in 
which  it  has  prevailed,  the  number  of  deaths  have 
exceeded  the  number  of  births,  among  the  slave- 
population,  except,  perhaps,  the  United  States. 
M.  Cochin,  a  French  author,  asserts,  that  "it  is  a 
law  of  nature,  that,  in  all  slave  countries,  the 
deaths  exceed  the  births."  This  is  a  fact,  well 
established,  both  by  official  documents  and  foreign 
statistics. 

At  Surinam,  from  1839  to  1843,  a  period  of  four 
years,  five  thousand  nine  hundred  slaves  were 
born,  whilst  there  were  ten  thousand  four  hundred 
who  died,  or  nearly  two  to  one,  during  the  same 
period. 

In  the  year  1825,  the  slave-population  of  Cuba, 
amounted  to  two  hundred  and  fifty-six  thousand. 
But  if  we  accept  the  calculation  of  Baron  Hum- 
boldt,  the  whole  number  of  slaves,  which  had 
been  imported  into  the  island  from  Africa,  from 
the  beginning  of  the  slave-trade  was  four  hundred 
thirteen  thousand  five-hundred,  so  that  the  number 
of  deaths,  during  that  period,  exceeded  the  births 
by  one  hundred  and  fifty-seven  thousand  five  hund 
red.  Any  country  would  soon  be  without  an  in 
habitant,  at  this  rate  of  depopulation. 

It  is  computed,  that,  during  the  last  century, 


150  RACHEI/S  LAMENTATION. 

six  hundred  thousand  slaves  were  imported  into 
Jamaica,  yet  it  is  known,  that,  at  the  end  of  that 
century,  the  slave-population  of  the  whole  island, 
amounted  to  but  little  more  than  half  the  num 
ber.  The  deaths  exceeded  the  births  by  nearly 
three  hundred  thousand. 

If  a  census  had  been  taken  annually,  in  our 
own  Southern  States,  showing,  not  only  the  in 
crease  in  population,  white  and  black,  but  how 
many  slaves  had  been  introduced  into  each  state 
by  importation,  I  would  be  able  to  prove,  that, 
for  the  past  forty  years,  in  the  States  of  Ala 
bama,  Mississippi,  Louisiana  and  Arkansas,  the 
deaths,  among  the  slaves,  have  exceeded  the 
births,  by  at  least  one-third. 

Now,  what  is  the  cause  of  this  extraordinary 
mortality?  This  is  no  insignificant  inquiry. — It 
demands  our  most  serious  consideration. — The 
great  Judge  Himself  will  require  an  answer,  in 
the  Day  of  final  Reckoning — What  is  the  cause? 
For  nothing  can  be  more  certain,  than  that  there 
is  a  cause. 

There  is  a  natural  and  original  law  of  in 
crease,  by  which  the  populations  of  states  and 
countries,  are  increased  in  a  steady  ratio.  That 
law  was  established  when  God  said  to  the  seed 


RACHEL'S  LAMENTATION.  151 

of  Adam,  "  Be  fruitful,  and  multiply,  and  replen 
ish  the  earth."  That  law  is  never  suspended  or 
relaxed  by  any  natural  cause. 

We  see  that  the  African  race  is  prolific  and 
fruitful,  in  their  own  native  country.  We  see 
that,  in  every  kingdom  and  state  of  Europe,  the 
population  is  steadily  advancing  in  numbers,  not 
withstanding  the  loss  of  so  many  thousands,  by 
emigration  to  other  countries.  We  observe  how 
rapidly  the  white  race  is  multiplying  4n  the  sev 
eral  divisions  of  America.  I  repeat  it,  that  origi 
nal  law  of  our  Maker,  is  never  reversed  nor 
suspended  by  natural  causes.  What  is  the  un 
natural  cause,  which  has  reversed  it,  in  the  case 
of  the  slave-population  in  this  country?  What 
is  it  which  has  killed  so  many  millions  of  human 
beings,  and  sent  them,  prematurely,  from  time  into 
eternity?  There  is  a  cause— 0  my  God!  thou 
knowest  what  it  is! 

It  cannot  be  ascribed  to  the  influence  of  cli 
mate.  For,  how  often  have  slave-holders  them 
selves  said  that  the  sultry  regions  of  the  South 
belong  to  the  slave— that  it  is  the  climate  most 
congenial  and  adapted  to  his  nature.  One  of 
their  principal  arguments  in  defense  of  slavery, 
is  founded  on  this  assumption.  They  assert  that 


152 


this  fair  and  sunny  realm  of  the  South,  so  rich 
and  productive,  must  be  cultivated  by  the  labor 
of  negroes,  as  the  white  man  cannot  live  here, 
and  labor.  It  cannot,  therefore,  be  pretended, 
that  this  extraordinary  mortality  is  the  effect  of 
climate.  The  climate  is  more  fatal  to  the  white 
race  than  to  the  blacks ;  yet  everywhere,  even  in 
the  South,  the  whites  have  increased  in  population. 

The  cause  is  not,  that,  as  a  race,  they  have 
lost  their  virility,  or  power  to  propagate,  and  are 
hence  beginning  to  decay  and  die  out.  For  it 
has  ever  been  contended  that  there  is  not,  on 
the  face  of  the  earth,  a  more  prolific  people,  or 
a  generation  that  multiplies  faster.  The  testi 
mony,  on  this  point,  is  unanimous.  A  distin 
guished  judge,  in  the  Georgia  Legislature,  said 
several  years  ago,  in  a  speech: 

"  You  may  take  any  single  slave-holding  county 
in  the  Southern  states,  in  which  the  great  staples 
of  cotton  and  sugar  are  cultivated  to  any  extent, 
and  confine  the  present  slave-population  within 
the  limits  of  that  county.  Such  is  the  rapid 
natural  increase  of  the  slaves,  and  the  rapid  ex 
haustion  of  the  soil  in  the  cultivation  of  those 
crops  (which  add  so  much  to  the  commercial 
wealth  of  the  country)  that,  in  a  few  years,  it 


RACHEL'S  LAMENTATION.  153 

£ 

would  be  impossible  to  support  them  within  the 
limits  of  such  county." 

Look  at  the  single  fact,  that,  during  the  last 
fifteen  or  twenty  years,  the  great  State  of  Vir 
ginia  has  been  able  to  supply  not  less  than  twenty- 
five  or  thirty  thousand  slaves  annually,  for  the 
market  in  the  cotton  and  sugar  growing  regions 
of  the  South,  and  yet  there  has  been  no  diminution 
of  her  slave-population  at  home,  but  a  regular 
and  constant  increase  all  the  while.  Do  such  facts 
seem  to  indicate  that  they  are  a  feeble  and  de 
caying  race  ? 

If  then,  they  have  increased  and  multiplied 
rapidly  in  their  own  native  land  ;  if,  in  the  State 
of  Virginia,  where  slavery  exists  in  its  mildest 
form,  and  its  rigors  are  not  known,  the  race  has 
been  obedient  to  the  great  law  of  nature,  originally 
given  to  man  for  the  propagation  of  the  species, 
what  cause  has  interrupted  the  natural  order  of 
things,  causing  their  decrease  in  Louisiana,  Missis 
sippi,  Jamaica,  Barbadoes,  and  other  countries, 
where  slavery  has  prevailed,  in  its  more  rigid 
forms?  I  will  here  quote  a  short  extract  from 
the  works  of  the  celebrated  Dr.  Samuel  Cart- 
wright,  one  of  the  most  enthusiastic  admirers  and 
defenders  of  Southern  slavery,  who  ever  raised  a 


154  RACHAEL'S  LAMENTATION. 

pen  in  defense  of  it.  Indeed  he  had  become  so 
wedded  to  the  system,  and  blinded  by  his  preju 
dices  in  favor  of  it,  that  he  could  hardly  see  any 
thing  else  but  arguments  in  favor  of  it,  and  the 
inferiority  of  the  negro  race,  in  any  book  or  sub 
ject  that  he  studied.  His  recent  death  in  the  rebel 
army,  raised  for  the  purpose  of  battling  for  the 
institution,  proves,  at  least,  the  sincerity  of  his 
zeal  in  the  cause.  The  quotation  is  as  follows  : 

"  Nature  is  no  law  unto  them.  They  let  their 
children  suffer  and  die,  or  unmercifully  abuse  them, 
unless  the  white  man  or  woman  prescribe  rules  in 
the  nursery  for  them  to  go  by."  But  why  should 
nature  be  no  law  unto  them  ?  Are  there  white 
females  in  Africa,  where  they  do  multiply,  to  pre 
scribe  rules  in  the  nursery  for  them  to  go  by? 
Even  the  she  wolf,  and  every  other  creature  has 
been  endowed  wilh  an  instinctive  affection  for  its 
own  young.  And  does  the  writer  pretend  to  give 
a  single  fact  to  prove  that  the  negro  mother  is 
the  only  exception  to  this  universal  law  ?  But 
further,  he  says  : 

"  Whenever  the  white  woman  superintends  the 
nursery,  whether  the  climate  be  cold  or  hot,  They 
increase  faster  than  any  other  people  on  the  face  of 
the  globe  ;  but,  on  large  plantations,  remote  from  her 


RACHEL'S  LAMENTATION.  155 

influence,  the  negro  population  invariably  diminishes, 
unless  the  overseer  take  upon  himself  those  duties, 
in  the  lying  in  and  nursery  department,  which,  on 
small    estates,   are   attended  to    by  the   mistress. 
She   often   sits  up   at    night  with   sick    children, 
and  administers   to  their  wants,  when    their  own 
mothers  are  nodding  by  them,  and  would  he  sound 
asleep,  if  it  were  not  for  her  presence.     The  care 
that  white  women  bestow  on  the   nursery,  is  one 
of  the  principal  causes,  why  three  hundred  thous 
and  Africans,  originally  imported  into   the   terri 
tory  of  the  United  States,  have  increased  to  four 
millions ;   while,  in    the  British  West  Indies,  the 
number  imported,   exceeded,  by   several   millions, 
the  actual  population.     It  is  also  the  cause,  why 
the  small  proprietors  of  negro  property  in  Mary 
land,  Virginia,  Kentucky   and  Missouri,  are  able  to 
supply  the  loss,  on  the  Southern  plantations,  which 
are  cut  off  from  the  happy  influence  of  the  presid 
ing  genious  over  civilization,  morality  and  popu 
lation — the  white  woman." 

Now,  this  brief  extract,  contains  two  or  three 
admissions,  inadvertently  made  by  the  writer, 
which  go  far  to  account  for  the  rapid  decrease 
of  the  slave-population  in  certain  States  and 
countries. 


156  RACHEL'S  LAMENTATION. 

In  the  first  place,  it  is  admitted  that,  if  the 
nursery  is  properly  attended  to,  the  race  does 
increase,  whether  the  climate  be  hot  or  cold, 
"faster  than  any  other  people  on  the  face  of  the 
globe." 

Secondly,  that,  if  the  nursery  is  neglected,  as 
in  the  British  West  Indies,  and  on  large  South 
ern  plantations,  there  is  a  rapid  decrease  of  the 
population. 

Thirdly,  that  there  is,  every  year,  a  loss  on 
the  large  plantations  in  the  South,  owing  to  this 
cause,  and  that  this  loss  is  constantly  supplied 
by  fresh  importations  from  the  more  Northern 
Slave  States,  where  the  business  is  followed  of 
breeding  slaves  to  supply  this  waste  of  life. 

I  agree  with  this  earnest  and  bigoted  zealot 
for  slavery,  as  to  the  cause  of  this  destruction 
of  human  life,  viz. ;  the  absence  of  that  tender 
care  and  influence  over  the  nursery,  without 
which  the  human  offspring  is  not,  and  cannot 
be  reared  to  maturity.  But  I  cannot  agree  with 
him,  in  assigning  to  the  white  woman,  the  sphere 
which  the  Creator  has  given  the  African  mother, 
in  nursing  and  rearing  her  own  child.  No  one 
can  properly  supply  the  place,  to  the  helpless  in 
fant,  of  its  own  natural  mother,  notwithstanding 


157 


what  the  writer  so  grandiloquently  says  about 
the  happy  influence  of  the  white  woman,  as  "  the 
presiding  genius,  over  civilization,  morality  and 
population." 

That  the  slave  mother  is,  tyrannically  and  cruelly, 
denied  the  privilege  of  acting  the  part  of  a  nurse  to 
her  young  and  delicate  babe,  on  the  large  plantations, 
is  what  I  shall  now  endeavor  to  establish. 

It  is  not  true  that  she  is  wanting  in  natural 
affection  for  her  offspring.  But  she  has  to  be  in 
the  field,  with  the  other  hands,  under  the  overseer, 
almost  up  to  the  very  moment  when  she  becomes 
a  mother.  And  then  again,  by  the  time  her  babe 
is  three  weeks  old,  she  has  to  resume  her  place 
among  the  field-hands,  and  work  with  the  rest 
of  the  gang,  without  any  interval  or  respite,  ex 
cept  what  is  allowed  her,  about  twice  in  the  day, 
to  return  to  the  quarters  to  give  her  infant  the 
breast.  Has  she  any  chance,  under  such  circum 
stances,  to  discharge  the  duties  of  maternity  ? 
Does  she  receive  the  tenderness  and  care  her 
own  delicate  situation  demands?  Is  there  any 
probability  that  a  young  and  tender  babe  can 
grow  up  to  maturity,  with  so  little  nursing  and 
attention  ? 

I  have  heard  the  remark  made,  in  these  States, 


158  RACHEL'S  LAMENTATION. 

a  hundred  times,  if  not  oftener,  that  it  is  almost 
impossible  to  bring  up  young  negroes,  on  the  lar 
ger  plantations,  which  are  left  exclusively  to  the 
management  of  overseers.  And  I  know  the  re. 
mark  to  be  true,  for  I  have  lived  many  years  in 
these  States,  and  have  been  much  on  large  planta 
tions  in  Mississippi,  in  Louisiana,  and  in  Texas ; 
and  I  can  tell  the  reasons  why  the  remark  is  true. 

These  large  plantations  belong  to  men  of  wealth. 
They  are  located,  generally,  along  the  margins  of 
rivers  and  bayous,  and  in  the  rich  and  alluvial 
districts,  once  covered  by  swamps.  There  are 
proprietors  who  own  two,  three,  five,  and  often  as 
many  as  six  or  eight  of  these  large  plantations 
each,  but  they  do  not  reside  on  them  with  their 
families.  They  live  in  Mobile,  or  Montgomery,  or 
Nashville,  or  Natchez,  or  some  other  gay  metropo 
lis,  where  aristocracy  can  be  seen  in  all  its  pomp. 
The  plantations,  from  whence  they  derive  the 
means  of  spending  their  days  in  splendid  idleness 
and  pleasure,  are  left  solely  to  the  management  of 
overseers. 

The   business    of   overseeing,   has    been   at   the 

V 

South,  a  regular  and  established  trade  or  calling, 
as  much  so  as  that  of  the  lawyer,  the  physician, 
or  any  other  established  vocation.  The  overseer 


RACHEL'S  LAMENTATION.  159 

must,  of  course,  have  a  reputation  for  proficiency 
in  the  business  for  which  he  is  engaged.  And  his 
reputation  depends  on  his  ability  to  obtain,  from 
the  slaves  under  his  management,  the  largest 
amount  of  labor  possible !  The  test  of  this,  is  the 
number  of  bales  of  cotton  or  hogsheads  of  sugar 
he  can  make  in  a  season,  to  the  hand.  There  is 
no  overseer,  who  is  willing  to  be  surpassed,  in  this 
respect,  by  the  neighboring  overseers.  Hence, 
there  is  a  rivalry  among  them,  every  season,  who 
shall  raise  the  highest  number  of  hogsheads  or 
bales,  for  the  force  employed.  Will  they  be  spar 
ing  in  the  use  of  the  lash?  Can  we  suppose  that 
they  would  not  begin  the  labor  of  the  day,  early 
in  the  morning,  or  that  they  would  not  leave  off 
late  in  the  evening?  Seldom  does  the  plantation 
bell  ring  the  signal  for  turning  out  for  the  toils 
of  the  day,  after  the  first  dawn  of  light,  often  an 
hour  sooner  ;  and  the  labor  is  continued  till  dark, 
and  frequently  till  nine  or  ten  o'clock  in  the  night. 
Is  it  probable  that  the  overseer  would  be  likely, 
under  such  circumstances,  to  have  much  regard 
or  sympathy  for  a  female  slave,  in  a  delicate  situa 
tion?  She  would  scarcely  dare  to  complain  to 
him,  and  if  she  did,  perhaps,  she  would  only  be 
driven  away  to  her  work,  with  a  kick  or  a  blow, 


160  KACHEL'S  LAMENTATION. 

by  which  the  womb  becomes  the  grave  of  her  un 
born  child! 

A  regular  finished  overseer,  is  one  who  has  not 
in  his  heart,  a  particle  of  feeling  or  humanity  for 
a  negro.    This  assertion  is  based  on  what  I  have, 
myself,    seen    and    observed    everywhere    in    the 
South.     The  whip  is  the  badge  of  their  profession 
and  the  symbol  of  their  office.    They  have  used  it 
so  long,  and  excoriated  the  backs  of  so  many  sup 
pliant  men  and  women,  that  it  is  no  marvel  they 
have  become  callous,  and  lost  the  capacity  to  feel 
for  one  who   has  a  dark   skin.     It  is  no  unusual 
thing,  when  these  overseers  are  together,  to  hear 
them  boast  of  their  new  and  improved  modes  of 
torture   and  punishment,  for  runaways,  and  other 
delinquents.     In   brief,  I  do   affirm   that   there   is 
not  a  humane  person,  in  the  free  States,  who  would 
not  entertain  a  supreme   loathing  for  the  wretch, 
who   should  manifest  as   little  compassion  for  his 
dumb   ox   or  his   horse,  as   the  majority  of  these 
overseers  entertain  for  the  negro. 

And  now,  what  may  be  supposed  to  be  the  state 
of  things,  on  the  large  plantations,  left  solely  to 
the  management  of  these  men  ? ,  The  proprietor, 
with  his  family,  is  a  hundred,  it  may  be,  a  thou 
sand  miles  away ;  and  on  the  plantation,  contain- 


RACHEL'S  LAMENTATION.  161 

ing  a  population,  varying  from  one  to  five  hun 
dred  human  beings,  there  is  not  a  white  person, 
save  the  overseer.  Over  that  population,  he  is 
an  absolute  despot,  and  rules  with  a  rod  of  iron. 
They  fear  him  as  a  tyrant.  His  word  is  law  to 
them,  and  from  his  decision  there  is  no  appeal- 
not  to  the  law  of  the  land,  of  course— not  even 
to  their  own  master,  for  any  wrong  or  outrage 
he  may  inflict.  0,  it  is  sad  to  think,  that  such  a 
state  of  things  should  exist  in  a  free  country- 
should  exist  in  this  land  of  boasted  light  and 
liberty!  But  it  has  existed  long,  nevertheless. 

Contemplate,  for  a  moment,  this  petty  tyrant, 
the  overseer,  in  the  exercise  of  the  unbounded 
authority  committed  to  him.  He  knows  by  what 
tenure  he  holds  his  office,  and  on  what  the  next 
year's  salary  and  employment  will  depend.  The 
main  purpose,  therefore,  by  which  he  is  actuated, 
is,  to  get  as  much  work  done  as  possible,  without 
a  moment's  thought  for  the  comfort  or  welfare,  of 
the  miserable  slaves.  They  are  divided  into  two 
or  three  gangs,  and  a  driver,  with  whip  in  hand, 
is  stationed  to  watch  each  gang.  No  one  is  per 
mitted  to  lag  behind,  or  to  look  up  from  his 
work.  They  are  driven  from  daylight  till  after 
dark.  The  females  enceinte,  and  the  mothers  with 


162 


suckling  babes,  are  put  in  the  gangs,  and  worked 
with  the  rest.  Is  it  not  a  system  of  infanticide? 
Ought  it  to  be  considered  as  a  matter  of  surprise 
that  it  has  been  so  often  remarked,  it  is  impos 
sible  to  raise  slave  children  on  the  large  planta 
tions  ! 

In  the  cotton  picking  season,  they  are  out  in 
the  morning,  often  in  the  cold  dews,  when  there 
is  not  a  dry  rag  of  clothing  on  them,  till  the 
hot  sun  comes  out  towards  noon,  and  dries  it. 

At  Christmas  time,  it  is  usual,  after  the  year's 
crop  has  been  gathered  and  disposed  of,  to  clear 
up  and  open  a  new  field  out  of  the  swamp,  and 
get  it  ready  for  planting,  in  the  coming  spring. 
This  is  the  wet  season  of  the  year  in  the  South. 
No  matter  if  it  blows  rain  and  sleet,  a  week  at 
a  time — no  matter  if  the  ground  is  covered  with 
water,  ankle  or  knee  deep — the  work  must  go 
on,  for  it  has  to  be  finished  within  a  given 
time.  During  the  planting  season,  there  is  no 
time  to  clear  a  new  field,  and  it  must  be  done 
in  the  interval  between  the  gathering  of  one 
crop,  and  the  planting  of  another.  And  this  is 
the  winter  season,  the  most  inclement  of  the 
year,  when  no  white  man  would  think  of  going 
into  the  swamp  or  marshes,  and  chopping  timber 


RACHEL'S  LAMENTATION.  163 

for  weeks  together,  in  the  water  and  rain.  He 
would  choose  the  summer  season  for  the  purpose, 
when  the  sun  has  dried  the  earth,  and  there  is 
no  exposure,  consequently,  of  life  and  health.  But 
this  is  the  busiest  season  of  the  year,  when  the 
slaves  are  in  the  crop,  and  cannot  be  spared  for 
clearing  new  lands.  This  fact  may  serve  to 
throw  light  on  the  mysterious  cause  of  negro 
consumption,  so  prevalent  in  some  districts,  and 
also,  explain  why  it  is,  that,  on  nearly  every  large 
plantation,  there  may  be  found,  at  any  time,  a 
number  of  the  helpless  and  hopeless  victims  of 
rheumatism,  unable  to  walk  or  drag  their  slow 
limbs  along,  who  must  just  linger  on  a  few  more 
miserable  days,  and  then  die.  The  women  go 
into  the  swamp,  and  chop  and  clear  away  the 
timber,  the  same  as  the  men.  There  is  no  distinc 
tion  in  this  respect.  Can  we  feel  surprise  that 
their  babes  perish  in  the  womb,  or  as  soon  as  they 
have  seen  the  light?  The  question  ought  to  come 
home  to  the  conscience  of  this  enlightened  nation, 
could  it  be  expected  that  females,  treated  thus, 
anywhere  in  the  world,  should  be  mothers— should 
bear  children,  and  not  bury  them ! 

The  advocate  of    the   system,  may  find  a  salvo 
for   his   conscience,    and  frame    a  falsehood  with 


164  RACHEL'S  LAMENTATION. 

his  lips,  by  saying,  in  palliation  of  his  guilt,  that 
the  African  mother  has  no  natural  affection  for 
her  own  offspring.  But  this  would  be  only  to 
place  the  blame  at  the  door  of  the  Great  Crea 
tor  Himself.  If  she  is  destitute  of  natural  affec 
tion,  it  is  because  it  has  been  crushed  out  of  her 
heart  by  oppression  ;  for  it  is  a  natural  instinct 
with  which  God  has  endowed  all  females  for 
their  young,  for  the  preservation  of  the  species. 

The  Parliament  of  England,  after  long  years, 
aroused  by  the  appeals  of  some  of  her  philan 
thropic  statesmen,  saw  the  horrors  of  the  system 
and  abolished  it,  in  her  West  India  colonies. 
Would  it  not  have  been  a  glorious  thing  if  these 
United  States  had  been\  included,  for  the  moment, 
in  the  number  of  her  colonies?  At  least,  we 
should  have  been  spared  the  horrors  of  this  frat 
ricidal  war ! 

And  now  I  ask,  have  I  not  established  the 
charge,  stated  near  the  commencement  of  this 
chapter,  viz. :  that  the  principal  cause  of  the  rapid 
decrease  of  the  slave-population,  in  all  countries 
where  slavery  has  existed  in  its  rigors,  was  ow 
ing  to  the  fact,  that  their  infant  children  have 
been  sacrificed  annually,  by  tens  of  thousands,  on 
the  altar  of  the  slave-god  ?  True,  the  tyrants  did 


RACHEL'S  LAMENTATION.  165 

not  order  them  to  be  strangled,  at  their  birth. 
True,  they  were  not,  under  the  influence  of  pagan 
superstition,  cast  into  the  Ganges,  or  some  other 
sacred  stream,  to  feed  the  hungry  crocodile.  But, 
sacrificed  under  a  system  not  less  cruel  and  re 
volting  than  that  ancient  system  of  Paganism, 
their  miniature  graves  are  scattered,  by  hundreds 
of  thousands,  along  the  margins  of  the  Mississippi, 
the  Arkansas,  the  Brazos,  and  other  streams  now 
become  as  sacred  as  the  Ganges.  A  great  monu 
ment  will  be  erected  over  those  graves.  At  all 
events,  a  page  will  be  written  in  history  showing 
that  their  slaughter  was  avenged  by  the  armies  of 
the  Republic,  employed  and  commissioned  as  God's 
destroying  angel,  in  the  destruction  of  the  First 
born  of  the  oppressors ! 

If  there  be  a  future  life,  how  will  these  latter, 
confront  the  myriads  of  souls  thus  wronged  and 
cheated  out  of  existence?  0,  is  there  not  a  cry 
that  has  been  going  up  to  Heaven  from  those 
millions  of  little  graves,  scattered  all  over  the 
South,  against  the  nation  that  permitted  this  system 
of  wrong !  Can  we  wonder  that  the  hour  of 
atonement  has  come !  God  is  Just !  "  Great  and 
marvellous  are  thy  works ;  just  and  true  are  thy 
ways,  thou  King  of  Saints!" 


166 


XII. 
ENSLAVEMENT   OF  THE    MIND. 

SLAVE-HOLDERS  have  ofeen  protested  against  the 
charge,  which  stands  at  the  head  of  this  chapter. 
But  all  their  protests  and  arguments  can  avail 
nothing,  so  long  as  stubborn  facts  confront  them, 
which  remain  unanswered. 

It  would  indeed  be  difficult,  nay,  impossible  to 
imagine  a  state  of  the  total  enslavement  of  the 
body,  which  should  not  involve  the  enslavement  of 
the  soul  or  intellect.  And  all  the  arguments 
employed  to  prove  the  contrary,  are  utterly  futile 
and  void. 

For  one  man  to  assert  a  claim  of  property — 
of  absolute  ownership  in  the  very  soul  and  intel 
lect  of  another,  is  so  revolting  to  universal  reason, 
that  even  the  stanchest  advocate  of  slavery,  stag 
gers  appalled  at  the  thought  of  such  treason 
against  Heaven,  and  makes  a  feeble  but  ineffectual 
attempt,  to  repel  the  charge. 

The  system  of  slavery  that  has  prevailed  at  the 

S 


v^, 

ENSLAVEMENT    OF    THE   MIND.  167 

South,  debased  the  soul  of  man,  and  fettered  the 
intellect,  at  the  same  time  that  it  bound  and  fet 
tered  his  limbs.  To  meet  and  obviate  this  objec 
tion,  the  more  recent  defenders  of  the  system, 
have  taken  the  milder  position — that,  of  the 
right  of  property  in  the  life-time  service  of  the 
slave  ;  whilst  they  disclaim  the  right  of  property 
in  his  soul,  or  his  person.  This,  however,  is  a 
mere  subterfuge,  designed  to  remove  from  it,  the 
odium  inseparable  from  the  idea  of  one  man's 
holding  his  fellow-man  as  his  property. 

Let  us  look  at  the  claim  of  the  slave-holder, 
as  stated  in  this  milder  form  of  expression.  The 
Declaration  of  Independence,  penned  by  the  im 
mortal  Jefferson,  asserts  that  "  all  men  are  created 
free  and  equal."  It  asserts,  moreover,  that  all 
men  were  endowed  with  "  certain  inalienable 
rights,  among  which  are  life,  liberty  and  the  pur 
suit  of  happiness." 

If  this  declaration  is  true,  then  the  pursuit  of 
happiness  is  one  of  the  inalienable  rights  of  all 
men.  If  the  African  is  a  man,  the  "pursuit  of 
happiness "  is  a  natural  and  "  inalienable  right" 
which  belongs  to  him  as  well  as  to  all  other  men. 
If  he  is  not  a  man,  it  devolves  on  the  advocates 
of  slavery,  to  prove  that  he  is  not. 


168  ENSLAVEMENT  OP   THE  MIND. 

But  the  slave-holder  claims  an  absolute  right 
of  property  in  the  life-time  service  of  the  slave. 
Now,  the  two  rights,  that  of  the  master,  and  that 
of  the  slave,  are  irreconcilably  in  conflict,  the  one 
with  the  other.  The  one  destroys  the  other. 

For  example,  suppose  that  the  inalienable  right 
of  the  slave  to  the  pursuit  of  happiness,  should 
prompt  him  to  put  himself  under  a  teacher,  a  few 
hours  each  day,  for  the  purpose  of  being  able  to 
read  the  great  and  Blessed  Volume  of  God's  Truth, 
and  of  improving  himself  in  knowledge  generally  ; 
would  not  the  master  be  compelled  to  relinquish 
his  absolute  right  to  the  service  of  that  slave,  at 
least  for  the  time  thus  daily  spent  by  him  in  the 
pursuit  of  knowledge,  and  the  improvement  of  his 
mind? 

Or,  suppose  again,  that,  in  the  exercise  of  this 
"  iTialienable  right"  "  the  pursuit  of  happiness"  the 
slave  should  express  a  desire  to  dwell  with  his  own 
wife  and  family — If  this  right  is  acknowledged 
and  maintained,  what  becomes  of  the  master's 
right  to  sell  him,  or  any  of  his  family,  thus  separa 
ting  them,  perhaps,  for  life  ? 

We  see,  therefore,  that  the  right  set  up  by  the 
slave-holder,  when  expressed  in  its  very  mildest 
form,  is  totally  opposed  to  the  exercise  of  that 


ENSLAVEMENT   OF  THE   MIND.  169 

"inalienable  right,  the  pursuit  of  happiness,"  which 
Jefferson  asserted,  is  the  gift  and  birthright  of  all 
men. 

We  must,  therefore,  conclude,  either  that  the 
African  is  not  a  man,  or,  that  the  statement  in 
that  memorable  Declaration  is  not  true,  or,  that 
the  claim  of  the  slave-holder  is  a  fallacy.  Which 
shall  we  conclude  ? 

We  cannot,  certainly,  conclude  that  the  African 
is  not  a  man,  at  least,  till  some  advocate  of  slav 
ery,  bolder  than  his  fellows,  shall  undertake  se 
riously  to  prove  that  he  is  not  a  man.  This,  I 
believe,  has  never  yet  been  done.  And  while  they 
admit,  without  dissent,  that  the  slave  is  a  man, 
though  with  a  dark  skin,  we  may  rest  safe  in  the 
conclusion  that  he  is  a  man. 

In  the  next  place,  we  may  not,  and  further  I 
say,  we  dare  not  conclude  that  the  Author  of  our 
existence  ever  created  any  man  without  designing 
his  happiness,  and  endowing  him  with  an  inaliena 
ble  right  to  seek  his  happiness.  This  proposition 
is  so  clear  that  I  have  never  known  any  slave 
holder,  or  any  advocate  of  the  system  to  deny  it. 
It  is  not  only  an  inalienable  right  that  belongs  to 
all  men,  but  is  placed  by  Jefferson  among  the 
truths  which  are  self-evident.  To  deny  it,  there- 


170  ENSLAVEMENT    OF   THE   MIND. 

fore,  would  be,  in  fact  to  insult  the  reason,  and 
the  enlightened  conscience  of  universal  mankind. 

There  is  out  one  conclusion  remaining,  and  that 
is,  that  the  right  of  property  to  the  life-long  ser 
vice  of  the  slave,  is  a  fallacy,  having  no  founda 
tion  whatever  in  the  eternal  principles  of  right 
and  rectitude;  since,  as  we  have  seen,  this  claim 
destroys  the  inalienable  right  of  the  slave  to  the 
pursuit  of  happiness,  and  is  wholly  in  conflict  with 
it. 

But  now,  let  us  examine  this  pretended  claim  of 
the  slave-holder.  He  claims  the  right — the  abso 
lute  right  of  property  in  the  service  of  his  slave, 
as  long  as  he  lives  ;  but  this  claim,  he  argues, 
does  not  necessarily  involve  the  enslavement  of 
his  soul,  or  his  intellect.  But  this  reasoning  is 
self-contradictory  and  absurd, — let  us  see  : 

The  services  of  a  slave  would  be  worthless  to 
the  master,  without  a  sound  and  healthy  body, 
able  to  render  service.  Besides,  no  service  could 
be  obtained  from  the  sound  and  healthy  body  of 
the  slave,  without  the  consent  and  co-operation  of 
the  mind  or  soul,  that  controls  all  the  motions 
and  actions  of  his  own  body.  It  is  vain  to  speak 
of  separating  the  soul  and  body  of  a  man,  until 
death  has  eifected  a  separation.  They  are  so 


ENSLAVEMENT   OF   THE  MIND.  171 

united,  that  they  are  a  unit  in  this  life,  at  least, 
and  the  body  cannot  act  without  the  soul,  nor  the 
soul  without  the  body.  The  master,  who  controls 
the  body  of  his  slave,  in  exacting  service  from 
him,  does,  so  far  control  his  soul,  or  his  intellect. 
And  he  can  exact  no  service  from  his  slave,  till 
the  latter  has  first  abandoned  all  freedom  of  will. 
His  will  must  be  so  far  brought  into  subjection  to 
the  will  of  the  master,  as  to  consent  to  be  govermd 
by  him — to  will  what  he  wills — and  to  move  all  the 
muscles  and  limbs  of  his  own  body,  as  he,  the 
master  shall  dictate.  Is  there  no  enslavement  of 
the  mind, — the  soul  in  this?  Can  a  more  misera 
ble  and  abject  state  of  bondage  be  conceived  of? 
But  let  us  see  how  the  theory  operates  when 
carried  out  into  practice. — The  master  has  a  cot 
ton  plantation,  and  it  is  his  pleasure  that  the 
slave  shall  till  and  work  that  plantation,  in  the 
growth  of  cotton.  Has  the  slave  any  freedom  or 
liberty  of  choice  ?  Though  he  should  prefer  some 
other  employment — some  other  mode  of  life — 
though  he  should  judge  a  life  spent  in  a  cotton 
field,  and  in  clearing  swamps,  to  be  destructive 
of  life  and  health,  and  subversive  of  all  his 
hopes  of  pleasure  and  happiness  in  this  world, 
has  he  any  option?  Must  he  not  lend  his  will, 


172  ENSLAVEMENT   OF  THE  MIND. 

however  reluctantly,  into  absolute  submission  to  the 
will  of  his  lord?  Yea,  he  must  go,  and  sweat, 
and  toil,  and  die  at  last,  on  the  cotton  farm,  be 
cause  the  master  willed  it! 

I  might  continue  this  chain  of  thought,  almost 
indefinitely ;  but  there  is  not  space,  nor  do  I  find 
any  necessity.  There  is,  however,  one  phase,  in 
this  mental  enthralment,  which  I-  must  not,  and 
will  not  omit  to  notice  in  this  connection.  I 
refer  now  to  the  Legislation,  in  most  of  the  states 
and  countries,  where  slavery  has  existed,  for  the 
express  purpose  of  preventing  the  intellectual  im 
provement  of  their  slaves,  and  of  keeping  them 
down  in  a  state  of  mental  darkness  and  igno 
rance.  This  is  a  feature  in  African  slavery, 
which,  for  blackness  of  guilt,  finds  no  parallel  in 
any  ancient  form  of  slavery  the  world  has  known. 

If,  to  resolve  that  your  slave  shall  be  kept  in 
ignorance — If,  to  enact  laws  for  the  purpose  of 
keeping  him  in  ignorance— And  if,  to  exercise 
vigilance  in  the  execution  of  those  laws,  does  not 
involve  the  absolute  and  utter  enslavement  of  the 
soul,  then  tell  me  what  is  meant  by  the  enslave 
ment  of  the  mind  of  man,  or  how  it  would  be 
possible  to  fetter  and  bind  a  human  soul! 

But  has   the   God   of  the   spirits   of  all  flesh, 


ENSLAVEMENT   OF    THE   MIND.  173 

ever  delegated  authority  to  any  Immaii  being, 
thus  to  impose  shackles  on  the  immortal  mind, 
and  to  bind  it  down  in  chains  of  darkness  ? 

Go,  visit  one  of  the  large  plantations,  up  the 
Red  River,  or  the  Arkansas,  with  a  population  of 
two  or  three  hundred  slaves.  Search  every  hut, 
and  you  will  not  find  a  book,  a  pamphlet,  or 
even  a  newspaper  —  not  a  single  trace  or  sign 
of  education  in  one  of  them.  Not  one  of  them 
can  read  a  single  letter  in  the  book.  There  is 
no  Holy  Bible,  no  Testament,  not  even  a  religious 
tract  in  any  of  their  dwellings.  That  plantation 
is,  in  fact,  a  dungeon  of  darkness,  and  its  occu 
pants  are  prisoners  of  darkness!  The  chains  on 
their  souls,  have  been  rivetted  by  law !  Now,  if 
God  has  endowed  man  with  intellectual  faculties, 
for  the  purpose  of  being  improved  in  obtaining 
the  knowledge  of  Himself,  through  his  works,  and 
through  his  Word,  who  has  the  right  to  say  to 
his  fellow-man,  that  he  shall  not  employ  those 
faculties  as  God  designed  they  should  be  em 
ployed  ? 

Look  again,  on  that  plantation,  and  into  that 
dungeon  of  darkness. — You  will  there  see  two  or 
three  hundred  souls,  with  noble  intellects,  it  is 
true,  and  faculties  of  a  high  order,  such  as  God 


174  ENSLAVEMENT   OF   THE   MIND. 

endowed  them  with.  But  have  those  intellects 
been  expanded,  and  improved,  and  developed  by 
education?  Have  they  been  permitted  to  know 
God,  by  the  diligent  study  of  his  works  and  of 
his  Word?  Have  they  had  any  chance  or  oppor 
tunity,  to  receive  that  mental  culture  and  train 
ing,  so  essential  to  the  highest  happiness  of  man, 
and  which,  we  may  say,  was  the  end  for  which 
every  man  was  created? 

Suppose  I  should  ask  the  Christian  master,  do 
you  believe  that  your  slave  is  a  man? — that  he 
is  endowed  with  intellectual  faculties  ? — that  he 
has  a  soul  ?  He  would  be  compelled  to  answer 
in  the  affirmative.  Do  you  believe  that  the  cul 
ture  and  improvement  of  those  faculties,  by  edu 
cation,  is  essential  to  the  highest  dignity  and  hap 
piness  of  man?  He  would  likewise  be  compelled 
to  answer,  yea.  And  further,  do  you  believe  that, 
when  the  Creator  thus  endowed  man  with  such 
noble  powers,  it  was  with  the  intention,  that  he 
should  exercise  and  improve  those  gifts,  and 
aspire  to  the  highest  dignity,  and  the  highest 
degree  of  happiness  of  which  his  nature  is  capa 
ble  ?  Could  he  say,  nay  ? 

But  what  has  slavery  done  ?  It  has  taken  away 
the  key  of  knowledge — it  has  suppressed  every 


ENSLAVEMENT   OF   THE   MIND.  175 

high  and  noble  aspiration  of  the  soul — it  has, 
by  legislative  enactments,  stationed  armed  senti 
nels  at  the  gates  of  the  temple  of  science,  to  pre 
vent  the  slave-man  from  entering  therein  ;  lest  he 
should  attain  to  that  state  of  intellectual  dignity 
and  excellence,  which  is  the  ultimate  end  for 
which  God  created  him,  for  His  own  glory! 

Yea,  this  is  the  kind  of  legislation  which  has 
been  tolerated  in  this  Christian  land — this  land 
of  boasted  freedom,  education,  and  equality  1 
Surely,  it  was  time  that  this  state  of  things 
should  have  a  termination.  The  end  has  come, 
but  not  in  the  way  that  we  looked  for!  God's 
ways  are  not  as  our  ways,  nor  his  thoughts  as 
our  thoughts  1 


176 


XIII. 
BREEDING  SLAVES 'FOR  MARKET. 

To  assert  that,  during  the  last  twenty  years, 
two  millions  of  slaves  have  been  imported  and 
sold  in  the  sugar  and  cotton-growing  States,  from 
the  more  Northern  Slave  States,  would  be  rather 
under  than  over  a  correct  estimate.  It  may  truly 
be  said,  that,  the  passion  for  buying  negroes, 
amounted  to  a  mania.  It  might  be  called  the 
Niggermania.  It  was,  in  fact,  a  disease — And  I 
have  never  known  a  disease,  that  was  more  con 
tagious  in  its  nature,  or  that  prevailed  to  such 
an  alarming  extent.  But  there  is  nothing  sur 
prising  in  this  circumstance,  when  it  is  known 
that  almost  every  man's  political  and  social  stand 
ing  in  the  community,  was  estimated  by  the  num 
ber  of  slaves  which  he  owned. 

The  planters  of  the  South  have  acquired  an  un 
enviable  reputation,  as  it  is  well  known,  for  run 
ning  headlong  into  debt.  The  reason  of  this  was, 


BREEDING   SLAVES   FOR   MARKET.  177 

that  every  planter  was  willing,  not  only  to  ex 
pend  his  whole  income,  over  and  above  the  actual 
expenses  of  his  plantation,  in  the  purchase  of 
slaves,  but  to  buy  as  many  more,  in  addition,  as 
he  could  obtain  on  credit.  For  example,  if  a 
small  planter,  with  a  force  of  ten  or  twelve  hands, 
his  cotton  crop  would  probably  net  him  (I  speak 
of  the  times  just  before  the  war)  about  five  thou 
sand  dollars,  of  which  sum,  the  actual  cash  ex 
pense  of  his  plantation,  if  he  were  economical, 
would  not  be  over  fifteen  hundred  dollars.  The 
balance  he  would  be  sure  to  lay  out  in  the  pur 
chase  of  negroes.  Thirty-five  hundred  dollars 
would,  in  those  times,  now  past  and  gone  to  re 
turn  not  again,  purchase  three  or  four  likely 
negroes.  But,  in  addition,  he  would  be  sure  to 
purchase  two  or  three  more,  on  credit,  relying  on 
the  proceeds  of  the  next  crop,  to  make  the  pay 
ment.  Thus,  every  thing  they  could  make,  was 
expended  in  the  purchase  of  negroes.  The  major 
ity  of  them,  even  lived  poor,  and  stinted  them 
selves  and  their  families,  in  many  of  the  com 
forts  of  life,  that  they  might  have  the  more  money 
to  buy  negroes.  And  still  they  were  always  in 
debt  for  the  purchase  of  negroes.  They  raised 
cotton,  and  they  raised  sugar,  but  only  as  a 


178  BREEDING   SLAVES   FOR   MARKET. 

means  to  enable  them  to   buy   negroes — more  ne 
groes.     They  never  could  buy  enough  of  them. 

To  meet  this  great  and  ever  increasing  demand 
for  negroes,  there  was  not  a  town,  of  any  size,  and 
hardly  a  village,  in  any  of  these  states,  where 
there  was  not  a  slave-mart,  open  day  and  night, 
at  all  seasons  of  the  year.  At  these  marts,  scores 
and  hundreds  of  men,  women,  and  children  of  all 
colors,  from  a  jet  black,  to  the  lightest  complexion, 
that  could  hardly  be  distinguished  from  the  fairest 
Circassian,  were  kept  constantly  on  hand,  for  sale. 
Almost  every  day,  gentlemen,  from  the  city  and 
country,  and  sometimes  from  other  states,  visited 
these  markets  for  the  purpose  of  examining  the 
stock  of  animals  for  sale,  with  a  view  to  purchase. 
Not  unfrequently,  old  bachelor  planters  and  mer 
chants  visited  these  marts,  to  purchase  a  wife  or  a 
mistress,  provided  they  could  find  one  to  please 
them.  Every  one,  who  is  at  all  familiar  with  the 
working  of  the  system,  is  aware,  that,  some  of  the 
most  beautiful  women,  and  young  girls,  have  been 
thus  exposed  to  sale,  at  these  numerous  marts,  and 
for  the  purpose  designated  ;  many  of  whom,  on 
account  of  their  light  complexion,  could  scarcely 
Lave  been  distinguished  from  the  white  Creole  girls 
of  Louisiana,  but  for  the  clear,  dark,  and  lustrous 


BREEDING  SLAVES   FOR  MARKET.  179 

eye,  denoting  the  taint  of  African  blood  in  their 
veins. 

Out  of  this  state  of  things,  an  important  traffic 
grew  up,  denominated  the  domestic  slave-trade.  In 
carrying  on  this  traffic1,  negro-traders  were  the 
merchants.  Owing  to  the  great  and  increasing 
demand  for  slave-property,  this  traffic  soon  attained 
to  a  high  degree  of  importance.  A  numerous  class 
of  men  applied  themselves  diligently  to  the  busi 
ness  for  years,  as  their  sole  occupation,  and  none 
made  fortunes  more  rapidly  than  they.  Not  a  few 
of  them  became  millionaires.  I  have  in  my  mind 
now,  one  who  thus  acquired  a  property  of  nearly 
two  millions,  and  then  when  he  was  fifty,  married 
one  of  the  most  beautiful  and  accomplished  young 
ladies  in  Tennessee,  the  daughter  of  a  clergyman ; 
which  shows  that  the  character  of  a  negro-trader, 
was  not  held  in  quite  so  much  odium  at  the  South, 
as  in  other,  perhaps,  less  civilized  district^ 

The  greater  number  of  the  slaves,  thus  trans 
ported,  from  year  to  year,  from  one  to  another 
distant  State,  and  sold  to  new  masters,  were  fur 
nished  by  Virginia,  and  the" two  Carolinas.  Mary 
land,  Kentucky  and  Missouri  each  furnished  a 
few,  but  not  the  tithe  of  what  were  furnished 
by  the  first  three  named,  which  may  therefore, 


180  BREEDING  SLAVES   FOR  MARKET. 

without  any  injustice,  be  termed  slave-breeding- 
States. 

Much  of  the  land  in  those  States  had  become 
almost  valueless,  from  long  tillage  by  slave  labor. 
This  is  one  of  the  effects  of  slavery.  The  soil 
itself  seems  to  experience  the  curse.  The  land 
gradually  wears  out  in  a  few  years,  and  becomes 
utterly  worthless.  The  traveler,  journeying  through 
any  of  those  older  States,  may  often  see  extensive 
fields  turned  out,  as  waste  and  barren  lands,  so 
naked  and  bare  of  soil,  and  so  exhausted,  that 
not  even  weeds  will  grow  on  them. 

There  is  many  a  planter  in  South  Carolina  and 
Georgia,  who  does  not  make  over  one  or  two 
bales  of  cotton  to  the  hand,  on  account  of  the 
exhausted  state  of  the  soil ;  whereas,  if  he  were 
in  Mississippi  or  Texas,  he  could  raise  ten  or 
twelve  bales  per  hand.  Slave  property  was, 
therefore^  becoming  almost  valueless,  for  agricul 
tural  purposes,  in  several  of  the  States ;  and  the 
owners  of  slaves  had  either  to  emigrate  to  some 
new  State,  or  turn  their  attention  to  some  new 
enterprise.  The  Domestic  Slave  Trade  sprung  up 
just  at  the  favorable  juncture,  to .  meet  this  ne 
cessity.  And  many  of  those  who  did  not  choose 
to  emigrate  to  the  newer  States,  taking  their  slave 


BREEDING   SLAVES   FOB   MARKET.  181 

property  with  them,  at  once  entered  on  this  new 
and  lucrative  business  of  breeding  slaves  for 
market. 

The  great  State  of  Virginia  stands  first  and 
uppermost,  in  the  list  of  slave-breeding  States — 
Virginia,  a  name  become  venerable  with  sacred 
memories,  as  the  mother  of  Presidents, — as  the 
birth-place  of  Washington,  Jefferson,  and  other 
eminent  statesmen  and  orators,  the  noblest  bene 
factors  of  the  country.  What  a  stain  upon  the 
bright  record  that  might  have  been  hers !  How 
severely  has  the  scourge  of  God  come  down  on 
her  soil,  for  her  iniquity ! 

One  of  the  wisest  and  most  profound  European 
statesmen  of  modern  times,  expressed  his  opinion 
of  the  practice  of  breeding  slaves  for  sale,  in 
the  following  strong  and  characteristic  language: 
"  The  breeding  of  slaves  for  sale  is,  probably,  the 
most  immoral  and  debasing  practice  ever  known 
in  the  world.  It  is  a  crime  of  the  most  hideous 
kind,  and  if  there  were  no  other  crime  committed 
by  the  Americans,  this  alone  would  place  the  ad 
vocates  and  supporters  of  American  slavery,  in 
the  lowest  grade  of  criminals." 

Thus  wrote   Daniel  O'Connell,  the  great  Irish 
patriot,  par  excellence,   a  man  of  a  towering  Intel- 


182  BREEDING   SLAVES   FOR   MARKET. 

lect,  and  commanding  genius,  whose  very  name 
adds  lustre  to  his  country.  He  was  in  a  position 
where  he  could  view  slavery  from  a  stand-point, 
uninfluenced  by  self-interest  and  the  prejudices  of 
education ;  and,  therefore,  his  opinion  outweighs 
all  that  Southern  writers  and  Southern  divines 
have  said  and  written  on  the  other  side. 

It  is  not  to  be  denied  that  this  horrid  prac 
tice  has  caused  our  whole  nation  to  be  despised 
by  the  civilized  world.  Another  foreign  writer, 
M.  Cochin,  a  Frenchman,  uses  the  following  lan 
guage  in  reference  to  the  practice  of  breeding 
slaves,  for  sale :  "  What  shall  we  say  of  that 
abominable  fact, — negro-raising  ?  It  is  well  known 
that,  among  horses  and  cows,  a  fine  stallion  suffices 
for  a  drove.  Some  slave-holders  have,  in  the  same 
manner,  one  sire  to  several  mothers ;  and  the 
methods  for  raising  the  bovine  and  equine  races 
are  now  brought  into  use  for  the  human  race,  on 
the  soil  of  liberty." 

Such  charges  made  against  a  great  and  Chris 
tian  nation,  by  some  of  the  most  enlightened  for 
eigners  and  journalists,  cannot  be  answered  by  a 
witticism  or  a  contemptuous  sneer.  There  is  so 
much  of  truth  and  justice  in  the  charges  pre 
ferred,  that,  unfortunately,  we  cannot  vindicate 


BREEDING   SLAVES   FOR   MARKET.  183 

t 

the  honor  of  the  nation,  against  those  who  make 
them. 

Some  of  the  best  families,  in  the  older  slave- 
states,  revel  in  all  the  luxuries  of  wealth  and 
affluence,  from  the  profits  derived  from  slave-breed 
ing  !  They  keep  the  young  and  healthy  breeding 
women,  and  men  enough  to  suffice  for  the  purpose 
of  sires,  and  sell  the  rest  to  the  traders,  who  con 
stantly  traverse  those  states  to  buy  up  that  spe 
cies  of  property,  with  a  view  to  transport  them 
to  another  market.  The  process  is  very  like  that 
of  the  farmers  in  Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  who 
raise  mules  and  horses,  to  be  sold  in  the  states 
further  South.  The  practice  must  strike  every 
reflecting  mind,  on  the  very  first  blush,  as  revolt 
ing  to  every  dictate  of  humanity,  as  demoralizing, 
in  its  effects,  both  on  the  slave  and  white  popu 
lations,  and  as  a  crime  against  God. 

To  speak  only  of  its  effect,  in  sundering  the 
ties  of  consanguinity,  as  the  last  writer  quoted, 
truly  says  :  "  the  husband  is  thus  wrested,  from 
his  wife,  the  mother  from  her  infant,  the  aged 
father  from  his  son !  This  montrous,  daily,  inevit 
able  consequence,  the  separation  of  the  family,  is, 
in  itself  alone,  to  every  man  of  heart,  the  con 
demnation  beyond  appeal  of  slavery.  Ah !  our 


184  BREEDING   SLAVES   FOE  MARKET. 

hearts  are  rent  with  the  thought  that  death  may 
suddenly  snatch  us  from  our  wife  or  child! 
What  would  it  be,  if  it  were  necessary,  every 
morning,  to  ask,  is  my  child  sold  ?  Has  my  wife 
been  carried  away  ?  The  stories  of  Mrs.  Stowe, 
are  only  the  skillful  and  touching  delineations  of 
these  separations,  ths  threat  of  which,  always  sus 
pended,  weighs  on  all  the  joys  of  the  unhappy 
negro." 


185 


XIY. 
THE  MARRIAGE  ALTAR  THROWN  DOWN. 

THE  marriage  relationship  was  originally  es 
tablished  by  God.  There  is  no  diversity  of  views 
on  this  subject,  at  least,  in  the  Christian  world, 
whatever  differences  of  opinion  may  exist  in  re 
gard  to  slavery. 

The  union  that  exists  between  husband  and 
wife,  was  ordained  in  the  beginning,  by  the  Great 
Author  of  our  being,  and  is,  therefore,  to  all  in 
tents  and  purposes,  a  sacred  and  indissoluble 
relationship.  All  doubts  on  this  point,  if  there 
could  be  any,  is  taken  away  by  that  inspired  and 
authoritative  declaration,  "  whom  God  hath  joined 
together,  let  not  man  put  asunder." 

The  intimacy  and  closeness  of  this  relationship, 
is  expressed,  in  that  original  ordinance,  when 
marriage  was  instituted,  contained  in  the  2nd. 
Chapter  of  Genesis,  "Therefore,  shall  a  man 
leave  his  father  and  his  mother,  and  cleave  unto 
his  wife,  and  they  twain  shall  be  one  flesh." 


186        THE   MARRIAGE   ALTAR   THROWN   DOWN. 

The  law  of  marriage  is  palpably  written  in  the 
physical  constitution  of  man,  and  in  the  deep-felt 
necessities  of  his  nature.  In  the  same  connection 
where  it  is  written,  "  God  created  man  in  his  own 
image,  in  the  image  of  God,  created  he  him  " — 
we  find  it  also  written  ;  "  male  and  female  created 
he  them.'1'' 

In  all  ages  of  the  church,  the  saints  have  re 
garded  the  marriage  institution  as  of  divine  ap 
pointment,  and  the  obligations,  growing  out  of  it, 
as  possessing  a  sacred  and  religious  character. 
"  Let  the  same  be  she  that  thou  hast  appointed  for 
thy  servant  Isaac."  This  was  the  prayer  of  the 
venerable  and  pious  servant  of  Abraham,  whom 
he  had  made  ruler  over  all  that  he  had,  when  he 
was  sent  to  obtain,  from  among  Abraham's  kin 
dred,  a  wife  for  his  son  Isaac.  This  is  explicit 
testimony  as  to  what  was  the  opinion  held  by  the 
saints  of  patriarchal  times. 

Though  this  divine  law  of  marriage,  like  every 
other  law  of  God,  has  been  violated,  and  corrupt 
ed,  and  trampled  down  in  many  ways,  yet,  it 
is  wonderful  to  observe  how  a  mysterious  and 
special  Providence  has  been  exercised,  in  every 
age  and  country,  to  maintain  and  perpetuate  that 
law.  For  it  has  not  been  blotted  out.  It  could 


THE   MARRIAGE   ALTAR   THROWN   DOWN.          187 

not  be,  without  the  destruction  of  man's  physical 
and  social  being.  He  was  originally  created 
"  male  and  female."  They  are  born  into  the  world 
"male  and  female"  still.  The  man  cannot  do 
without  the  woman,  nor  the  woman  without  the 
man. 

There  is  an  exact  equality  of  the  sexes  born. 
This  is  a  curious  physiological  fact,  in  the  history 
of  the  race.  We  know  of  no  physical  necessity 
in  the  constitution  of  man,  by  which  this  gen 
eral  result  should  be  secured.  It  is  certain,  that, 
while  in  some  families,  all  the  births  are  males, 
in  others  again,  all  the  births  are  females.  And 
we  can  assign  no  reason  or  necessary  cause,  why 
it  might  not  happen  that  all  the  births  in  a  whole 
nation,  should  be,  either  all  males,  or  all  females, 
as  well  as  in  individual  families.  But,  if  such  a 
contingency  should  ever  happen,  the  existence  of 
that  nation  would,  of  course,  be  suddenly  ter 
minated.  Or,  if  in  any  nation  or  country,  the 
sexes  were  born  in  disproportionate  numbers — if, 
for  example,  in  Utah  Territory,  or  any  other  king 
dom  or  territory,  only  a  fourth  part  of  the  births 
were  males,  and  the  other  three-fourths  were  fe 
males,  we  should  conclude  that  it  was  the  Will 
of  the  Divine  Being,  that  polygamy  should  pre- 


188         THE  MARRIAGE  ALTAR  THROWN   DOWN. 

vail  in  that  kingdom  or  country,  inasmuch  as 
nature  had  provided  only  one  husband  for  three 
women.  But,  as  there  is  born,  in  every  king 
dom  and  country  throughout  the  whole  world, 
just  an  equal  number  of  males  and  females,  we 
are  impressed  with  the  belief,  that  there  is  a 
Special  and  Overruling  Providence,  which  has 
maintained  and  preserved  this  remarkable  equal 
ity  between  the  sexes,  thus  securing  to  every  man 
his  wife,  and  to  every  woman  her  husband,  and 
making  the  original  creation  of  male  and  female, 
a  perpetual  and  ever  renewed  creation. 

So  much  for  the  divinity  and  sacred  character 
of  the  marriage  relationship.  It  is,  further,  essen 
tial  to  human  felicity.  The  cup  of  man's  earthly 
bliss  would  lose  one-half  its  sweetness,  if  this  in 
gredient  were  wanting.  Even  the  joy  of  Eden 
was  not  perfect,  till  God  had  formed 'a  help-meet 
for  man.  The  Creator  saw,  and  he  said,  that, 
"it  is  not  good  that  the  man  should  be  alone." 
And  we  may  suppose,  that,  when  Adam  awaked 
out  of  his  sleep  to  find  a  female  form,  of  angelic 
loveliness,  as  a  bosom  companion  nestling  by  his 
side,  he  felt  that  the  measure  of  his  happiness 
was  complete. 

In  the  present  state  of  the  world,  the  pilgrim- 


THE  MARRIAGE  ALTAR  THROWN   DOWN.        189 

age  of  man  on  earth,  would  be  sad  and  dreary 
indeed,  were  it  not  that  sin  has  not  entirely 
thrown  down  the  marriage  altar,  nor  made  utter 
ly  desolate  the  family  circle.  Universal  as  are 
the  ruins  of  the  fall,  and  as  much  as  the  beauty 
of  creation  has  been  marred  by  sin,  there  is  still 
something  of  domestic  bliss  left  to  man.  The 
purest,  and  the  most  unalloyed  pleasure  which 
has  come  down  from  Eden,  is  that  which  is 
found  in  the  union  between  two  congenial 
hearts,  whom  God  has  formed  for  each  other, 
and  which  have  been  united  together,  in  a  life 
long  destiny.  The  world  may  seem  cold  and 
cheerless— adversity  may  be  his  lot— but  still  the 
man  who  is  thus  blest,  may  find  a  ray  of  com 
fort  around  his  own  family  altar,  in  the  society 
of  the  sympathetic  and  loving  being,  whom  God 
has  given  him  to  double  the  joys  of  life,  and 
divide  its  sorrows. 

African  slavery  is  in  direct  opposition  to  this 
law  of  Heaven.  It  has  thrown  down  the  marriage 
altar  !  It  has  introduced  a  system  of  promiscuous 
concubinage,  and  wide  spread  fornication  in  the 
place  of  it,  in  all  the  States  where  it  has  pre 
vailed. 

I  am  aware,  that  the  upholders  of  the  system 


190   THE  MAREIAGE  ALTAR  THROWN  DOWN. 

manifest  some  sensitiveness  under  this  charge. 
But  they  scarcely  undertake  to  make  any  self- 
defense  against  it.  The  most  they  attempt,  is,  to 
retort  on  those  who  make  the  charge,  by  point 
ing  to  the  lax  state  of  morals  in  the  Free  States ; 
as  if  the  crimes  of  individuals,  in  any  country, 
could  be  offered  in  extenuation  of  a  legalized 
system  of  iniquity,  on  the  part  of  a  whole  State. 
The  domestic  slave-trade,  which  has  been  sanc 
tioned  arid  legalized  in  most  of  the  Southern 
States,  resulted,  as  it  might  have  been  foreseen, 
in  a  state  of  concubinage  and  whoredom  so  gene 
ral,  and  I  may  even  say,  so  popular,  that  custom 
has  established  it  as  a  peculiar  system  of  the 
South,  as  much  so  as  slavery  itself!  For  I  do 
not  believe  that  there  is  any  other  civilized  coun 
try,  at  least,  where  the  female  is  not  looked  upon 
as  a  degraded  and  fallen  creature,  who  has  lost 
her  virtue.  But  there  is  no  colored  woman  in 
the  Slave-States,  who  thinks  less  of  herself,  or  is 
less  esteemed  by  others,  because  of  the  want  of 
female  virtue.  But,  on  the  contrary,  if  she  is  the 
mistress  of  a  white  man,  she  thinks  herself  ele 
vated  by  the  connection,  and  is  envied  by  her 
female  friends.  Nor  is  the  fine  and  polished  gen 
tleman  of  the  South,  who  keeps  his  colored  mis- 


THE   MARRIAGE   ALTAR   THROWN   DOWN.         191 

tress,  degraded  in  the  eyes  of  his  acquaintances, 
either  male  or  female,  nor  his  name  cast  out.  It 
is  notorious,  that  we  once  had  a  Vice  President, 
from  the  South,  who  kept  his  colored  mistress — 
but  that  circumstance  did  not  injure  his  popular 
ity  at  home. 

Let  me  not  be  considered  as  a  defamer  of 
Southern  institutions.  I  speak  concerning  a  sta.te 
of  things  which  I  know  to  exist.  For  the  pur 
pose  of  corroborating  my  testimony,  I  will  here 
quote  an  extract  from  the  writings  of  Chancellor 
Harper,  whose  testimony  will  be  received  as  un 
questionable  ;  for  he  was  a  Southern  gentleman, 
a  native  of  South  Carolina,  and  one  of  their 
ablest  defenders  of  slavery.  He  says : 

"  She  is  not  less  a  useful  member  of  society, 
than  before.  If  shame  be  attached  to  her  conduct, 
it  is  such  shame  as  would,  elsewhere,  be  regarded 
as  a  venial  impropriety — She  has  not  impaired 
her  means  of  support,  nor  materially  impaired  her 
character,  or  lowered  her  station  in  society  ;  for 
she  has  done  no  great  injury  to  herself,  or  any 
other  human  being.  Her  offspring  is  not  a  bur 
den,  but  an  acquisition  to  her  owner  ;  her  support 
is  provided  for,  and  he  is  brought  up  to  useful 
ness  ;  if  the  fruit  of  intercourse  with  a  free  man, 


192        THE  MARRIAGE  ALTAR  THROWN  DOWN. 

his  condition  is,  perhaps,  raised  somewhat  above 
that  of  his  mother.  Under  these  circumstances, 
with  imperfect  knowledge,  tempted  by  the  stron 
gest  of  human  passions,  unrestrained  by  the  mo 
tives  which  operate  to  restrain,  but  which  are  so 
often  found  insufficient  to  restrain  the  conduct  of 
females  elsewhere,  can  it  be  a  matter  of  surprise, 
that  she  should  so  often  yield  to  the  temptation  ? 
Is  not  the  evil  less  in  itself,  and  in  reference  to 
society — much  less  in  the  sight  of  God  and  man? 
As  was  said  of  theft,  the  want  of  chastity,  which, 
among  females  of  other  countries,  is  sometimes 
vice,  sometimes  crime — among  the  free  of  our  own, 
much  more  aggravated — among  slaves,  hardly  de 
serves  a  harsher  term  than  that  of  weakness." 

Here,  we  •  have  a  shameless  and  unblushing 
apology  for  this  almost  universal  and  even  popular 
system  of  prostitution,  among  the  slave  popula 
tion  of  these  States,  by  one  of  the  most  distin^ 
guished  writers  of  South  Carolina,  and  a  firm 
defender  of  slavery.  He  admits  that  the  female 
slave,  who  has  parted  with  her  chastity,  has  but, 
at  most,  committed  a  "venial  impropriety"  which 
hardly  deserves  a  harsher  term  than  that  of 
"  weakness  " — that  she  has  not  injured  "  herself  nor 
any  other  human  being " — that  she  has  "  not  ma- 


193         THE  MARRIAGE  ALTAR  THROWN  DOWN. 

terially  impaired  her  character,  nor  lowered  her 
station  in  society " — that  her  offspring  is  "  an  ac 
quisition  to  her  owner,"  who  will  be  provided  for, 
and  if  the  fruit  of  intercourse  with  a  free  man, 
his  condition  will  be  raised  "  somewhat  above  that 
of  his  mother/'  &c.  The  facts  are  all  just  as  the 
writer  admits — And  this  is  the  state  of  public  sen 
timent,  and  the  state  of  morals  that  exists,  and 
that  has  existed  throughout  the  South.  But,  that 
which  may  well  excite  our  astonishment,  is  the 
fact,  that  there  should  be  found,  even  at  the  South, 
an  intelligent  and  educated  gentleman,  willing  to 
justify  this  state  of  things. 

But  it  cannot  be  helped.  It  is  a  condition  in 
separable  from  slavery.  It  has  been  forced  upon  the 
enslaved  and  helpless  population,  and  they  have 
not  the  power  to  resist  it.  The  laws  of  slavery, 
and  the  laws  of  the  States  that  legalize  it,  have 
forced  it  upon  them. 

In  the  first  place,  they  have  done  this  by 
legalizing  the  Domestic  Slave-Trade,  whereby  the 
rights  and  obligations  of  the  marriage  relationship 
are  annulled,  and  husbands  are  forcibly  separated 
from  their  wives,  and  wives  from  their  husbands. 
See  how  the  system  works  in  a  Slave-breeding 
State,  where,  on  many  a  plantation,  may  be  found, 


194        THE   MARRIAGE   ALTAR   THROWN   DOWN. 

perhaps  twenty  or  thirty  young  and  healthy  slave 
women,  kept  to  breed  and  raise  children  for  the 
market — but  in  all  probability,  there  are  not  over 
five  or  six  slave  men  on  the  same  plantation.  It 
would  be  out  of  the  question  for  the  master  who 
follows  slave-breeding,  to  afford  a  husband  for 
each  woman.  And,  of  course,  it  would  be  im 
possible  for  each  woman  to  have  a  husband.  Is 
not  the  marriage  altar  thrown  down  ?  Is  it 
rational  to  suppose  that  the  enslaved,  kept  in  ig 
norance  under  such  a  system,  should  be  able  to 
recognize  the  sacredness  of  the  obligations  grow 
ing  out  of  the  institution  ? 

The  traffic  in  slaves,  in  the  second  place,  has 
annulled  the  ordinance  of  God,  by  taking  away 
from  the  slave,  the  only  incentive  existing,  that 
could  induce  him  to  assume  the  obligations  im 
posed  by  that  ordinance.  He  may  be  separated 
from  his  wife,  the  very  next  day  after  marriage, 
and  so  may  the  slave-woman  be  separated  from 
her  husband,  never  to  meet  again.  They  are  liable 
to  be  sold  and  separated,  at  any  moment.  And 
would  they  be  disposed  to  enter  into  such  sacred 
relationships — would  they  form  such  endearing  and 
tender  ties, — only  to  experience  the  pain  of  hav 
ing  them  sundered  again,  so  suddenly  and  ruth- 


THE  MARRIAGE  ALTAR  THROWN  DOWN.        195 

lessly  ?  There  is  no  people  on  earth,  who  would 
do  it,  under  the  same  circumstances.  The  mar 
riage  altar  would  necessarily  fall  into  disrepute. 
But  the  crime  belongs  to  Slavery. 

Another  way,  in  which  slavery  has  im 
paired  the  obligations  of  the  marriage  relation 
ship  at  the  South,  is,  in  the  facilities  it  has 
afforded  to  corrupt  men,  for  indulging  their  un 
bridled  passions.  A  licentious  planter,  or  over 
seer,  might  buy  a  mistress,  at  any  time.  She 
must  go  to  his  home.  She  is  his  property. — 
She  is  unprotected,  and  entirely  in  his  power. 
— She  has  not  the  disposal  of  her  own  body 
or  person.  The  fact  is,  it  was  just  as  easy  to 
have  a  harem  on  a  large  Southern  plantation, 
or  even  in  a  city  like  New  Orleans  or  Charles 
ton,  as  to  have  one  in  Turkey,  provided  the 
old  rake  of  a  planter  or  merchant,  took  a 
fancy  to  have  two  or  three,  or  more  beautiful 
and  bright-eyed  mulattos,  about  his  bachelor 
establishment.  Indeed,  it  might  be  said  that, 
as  a  general  rule,  the  female  part  of  the  pop 
ulation  on  a  plantation,  constituted  the  harem 
of  the  overseer.  For  no  one  would  dare  to 
resist  his  importunity.  And  that,  as  a  general 


196        THE  MARRIAGE   ALTAR   THROWN   DOWN. 

thing,  the  overseers  at  the  South,  did  take 
advantage  of  their  situation,  and  make" acquisi 
tions"  to  their  employers,  is  apparent  from, the 
many  living  proofs,  which  may  be  seen  on  almost 
every  plantation. 

Need  any  thing  more  be  added,  to  set  forth 
the  horrors  of  slavery  ?  In  utterly  casting  down 
the  marriage  altar,  it  made  war  upon  one  of 
the  institutions  of  Heaven,  and  that,  too,  the 
one  in  which  nearly  all  the  heart-felt  sympathies 
and  endearments  of  life,  which  this  world  affords, 
were  concentrated. 

Christian  philanthropists  will  have  a  work 
before  them,  when  this  war  is  over,  and  slavery 
shall  have  passed  away,  in  restoring  that  altar 
to  its  primeval  place,  and  in  erecting  the 
standard  of  a  pure  morality  among  the  slave 
population.  This  will  be  a  work  of  time.  It 
cannot  be  accomplished  in  a  day.  The  social 
habits  and  sentiments  of  a  numerous  popula 
tion  cannot  be  suddenly  changed.  But  this  de 
sirable  reformation  can  be  effected,  by  a  proper 
effort,  in  a  very  few  years.  For  there  is  not 
a  more  docile  people  on  the  face  of  the  earth, 
than  the  colored  race,  nor  one,  apparently,  more 


THE  MARRIAGE  ALIA  a  THROWN  DOWN.    197 

willing  and  oven  anxious  to  make  improvement, 
In  all  that  pertains  to  their  spiritual  and  moral 
welfare.  It  is  to  be  hoped,  that  this  wide  field 
for  missionary  enterprise,  now  thrown  open,  may 
be  speedily  and  thoroughly  occupied. 


198 


XV. 

THE   PROCLAMATION. 

THERE  has  been  no  Presidential  term  of  four 
years,  since  this  nation  became  a  Republic,  that 
will  be  so  distinguished  in  future  history,  by  great 
and  memorable  events,  as  the  first  four  years  of 
Mr.  Lincoln's  Presidential  Supremacy.  But  the 
great  act  of  his  life,  will  be  that,  in  which  ho 
subscribed  his  name  to  the  document  which  loosed 
the  chains  of  slavery,  and  gave  liberty  to  millions 
who  were  held  in  bondage.  That  act  not  only 
gave  freedom  to  four  millions  of  the  enslaved 
children  of  Africa,  but  it  cleared  away  from  the 
escutcheon  of  our  nation's  proud  fame,  the  only 
dark  spot  that  had  rested  upon  it,  and  assigned, 
at  once,  to  the  great  Republic,  that  position  in 
the  fore-front  of  nations,  to  which  it  was  justly 
entitled,  and  which  will  be  maintained,  under  the 
guidance  and  smiles  of  a  propitious  Providence, 
through  all  the  coming  years.  That  great  hin- 


THE  PROCLAMATION.  199 

drance  to  our  national  prosperity  having  been 
removed,  we  may  expect  the  country  from  this 
date,  not  only  to  advance  in  a  career  of  uninter 
rupted  prosperity,  but  to  have  the  distinguished 
honor  of  being  the  pioneer  nation  in  the  cause 
of  freedom  and  humanity,  to  all  other  nations. 
She  could  not  fairly,  lay  claim  to  this  enviable 
distinction,  which,  nevertheless,  fate  had  willed  to 
her,  while  so  many  of  her  people  were  held  in  a 
state  of  bondage.  Now,  she  can  assert  her  claim, 
and  now,  go  forward,  without  let  or  hindrance,  in 
the  fulfillment  of  her  grand  mission. 

From  this  day,  the  soil  of  America,  is  a  soil 
consecrated  to  freedom.  A  soil  baptized,  again 
and  again,  with  the  blood  of  the  free,  should  be 
the  home  of  the  free,  and  the  free  alone.  No 
more,  0 !  no  more,  let  the  turf  once  reddened  by 
freedom's  costly  offering,  be  pressed  by  the  foot  of 
a  slave !  Never  more,  in  this  land,  now  and  for 
ever  redeemed,  let  the  cry  of  a  slave  be  heard,  as 
he  looks  forth  from  the  cell  of  his  captivity,  and 
utters  his  fruitless  sighs  for  freedom !  Country 
men  of  Washington !  Descendents  of  the  pil 
grims  !  let  us,  without  a  dissenting  voice,  approach 
our  country's  altar,  and  there  record  our  vows  that 
wo  will  be  true  and  loyal  to  freedom's  cause ! 


200  THE  PROCLAMATION. 

The  first  day  of  January,  1863,  will  be  cele 
brated  by  posterity,  as  the  day  when  the  sun  of 
America,  first  shone  forth  with  an  unclouded  splen 
dor.  That  sun  arose  amid  the  storms  of  tho 
Revolutionary  struggle — but  it  arose  behind  a 
dark  and  portentous  cloud.  The  whole  political 
heavens  have  been  overcast  and  darkened  by  that 
cloud,  threatening,  ever  and  anon,  to  burst  in  a 
storm  of  destructive  wrath  over  the  whole  land. 
It  did  burst  at  last,  and  descend  in  a  flood  of  deso 
lating  vengeance.  But,  God  be  praised !  the  coun 
try  is  safe  once  more — the  heavens  have  been  puri 
fied — the  threatening  and  portentous  cloud  has 
passed  away,  and  the  sun  of  our  freedom  begins  to 
shine  forth,  with  a  full-orbed  glory,  shedding  an 
effulgence  that  shall  radiate  and  lighten  distant 
lands. 

So  far  as  human  instrumentality  is  entitled  to 
any  honor,  for  doing  what  God  decreed  should  be 
done,  in  reference  to  the  Jld  of  Emancipation, 
that  honor  must  redound  to  the  name  of  Presi 
dent  Abraham  Lincoln — a  name,  now  rendered 
immortal,  and  which  will  stand  second  only  to 
that  of  Washington.  His  hand  it  was  that  laid 
the  cap-stone  in  the  completion  of  our  Temple  of 
Freedom.  The  foundations  of  that  glorious  struc- 


THE  PROCLAMATION.  201 

ture,  were  laid  by  our  fathers,  under  the  guidance 
of  Washington,  but  we  must  say,  they  left  it  in  an 
unfinished  state.  It  is  true,  they  saw  and  they 
proclaimed  the  great  truth,  which  none  others 
had  ever  seen  or  proclaimed  before  them,  that  "  all 
men  are  created  free  and  equal,"  but  still,  they 
permitted  some  to  continue  in  a  state  of  bondage, 
and  the  work  which  they  commenced,  was  left 
unfinished  !  It  was  scarcely  possible  that  so  per 
fect  and  magnificent  a  structure,  should  be  the 
work  of  a  single  generation.  They  gave  us  the 
theory  and  the  constitution  of  a  free  government, 
almost  perfect — with  only  a  single  defect.  That 
defect  is  now  removed,  and  we  stand  before  the 
world,  an  example  of  the  wisdom  of  the  theory, 
announced  by  them. 

We  are  wont  to  believe,  that,  when  a  great 
revolution  or  change  is  to  be  wrought,  vitally  con 
nected  with  the  destiny  and  happiness  of  whole 
nations,  suitable  agents  and  instruments  are  spe 
cially  raised  up  to  accomplish  the  work.  Thus, 
we  believe  that  our  Washington  was  raised  up, 
and  that  he  was  guided  and  sustained  by  a  Spe 
cial  Providence,  to  fulfill  the  purpose  of  that 
Providence,  in  laying  the  foundations  of  this  Em 
pire  of  Freedom. 


202  THE   PROCLAMATION. 

In  the  same  manner,  we  must  believe  that 
President  Lincoln  was  the  man  designated  and 
raised  up  by  the  same  protecting  and  overruling 
Power,  to  conduct  this  Nation  through  the  gloomi 
est  period  of  her  history.  There  has  not  been 
a  darker  day  in  our  National  history,  than  the 
day  when  he  took  the  helm  of  State.  We 
thought  the  Union  was  irrecoverably  gone !  The 
ablest  and  wisest  statesmen,  both  North  and 
South,  had  exhausted  all  their  efforts  and  coun 
sels,  at  compromise  and  conciliation,  but  to  no 
purpose.  A  cloud  of  gloom  and  despondency, 
seemed  to  cover  all  faces.  But  there  was  one 
man  who  did  not  despair  of  the  Union,  and 
whose  mind  was  made  up — and  that  was  the  Pres 
ident. 

He  summoned  the  Governors  of  the  States  to 
gether  for  consultation.  He  spoke : 

"  Gentlemen,  the  machinery  of  the  nation  is  out 
of  order.  We  must  run  it  as  we  find  it.  Its  in 
telligent  wheels,  its  rods,  its  belts  are  separated, 
but  the  boiler  seems  to  be  perfect.  We  must  re 
pair  the  work,  with  such  skill  and  ingenuity  as 
we  possess.  There  is  wisdom  in  counsel,  and, 
therefore  I  have  called  you,  that  we  may  reason 
together.  What  shall  we  do,  that  we  may  crush 


THE   PROCLAMATION.  203 

this  foul  rebellion,  and  preserve  the  country  from 
wreck?  I  have  made  up  my  mind,  with  implicit 
confidence  in  an  Overruling  Providence,  to  meet 
all  emergencies  that  may  arise.  It  is  time  to 
work.  What  shall  I  do  about  issuing  a  procla 
mation  to  the  people  ?" 

Here  was  firmness  of  purpose,  and  decision  of 
character,  which  showed  that  the  right  man  stood 
at  the  wheel,  in  the  Pilot-house.  Had  he  wavered 
then,  and  vacillated  between  hope  and  fear,  as  if 
he  knew  not  whether  to  move  forward  or  back 
ward,  the  country  would  have  been  lost.  Had 
he  possessed  the  weak  and  cowering  will  of  his 
predecessor,  nothing  could  have  saved  the  State. 

The  Governors  seemed  undecided,  hardly  know 
ing  what  counsel  to  give.  They  were  noble,  brave, 
patriotic  men,  but  even  they  seemed  fearful,  and 
appalled  at  that  solemn  crisis,  when  the  nation's 
destiny  trembled  in  the  balance.  After  some  mo 
ments,  during  which  a  profound  silence  reigned, 
the  President  addressed  Gov.  Curtin  personally — 
"  What  will  Pennsylvania  do,  if  I  issue  my  proc 
lamation?"  There  was  another  deep  and  solemn 
pause.  But  at  length,  the  Governor,  as  if  he  had 
caught  inspiration  from  the  President,  having  read 
the  firm  resolve  which  flashed  from  his  eye,  and 


204  THE   PROCLAMATION. 

the  confidence  and  hope  which  inspired  his  whole 
manner,  energetically  and  nobly  answered — "Sir, 
if  you  will  issue  your  proclamation,  Pennsylvania 
will  furnish  you  a  hundred  thousand  men,  in  a  week." 
The  President  grasped  the  hand  of  the  Governor 
convulsively,  and  ejaculated  "thank  God  for  that 
noble  reply — I  will,  at  once,  issue  my  proclamation." 
And  he  did  issue  it. 

The  "nick  of  time"  that  comes  in  the  affairs  of 
nations,  had  now  come,  and  was  pask— The  crisis 
was  past,  and  the  nation  was  saved  from  that 
hour.  It  is  said  that  the  President  of  the  great 
American  Nation,  shed  tears  of  joy,  which  mingled 
with  those  that  suffused  the  cheeks  of  the  patriot 
Governor  of  the  -Key-stone  State.  The  gloom 
that  enshrouded  that  conclave  of  men,  passed 
away  like  the  morning  mist  before  the  power  of 
the  summer  sun ;  hope  revived  their  drooping 
spirits,  and  joy  took  the  place  of  sorrow. 

Never,  since  this  nation  sprung  into  existence, 
has  there  been  a  man  placed  in  so  responsible 
and  critical  a  position,  as  President  Lincoln  at 
that  very  nick  of  time.  And  never  was  there  a 
man  who  met  the  crisis  and  the  responsibility, 
with  a  more  manly  and  becoming  spirit,  If  he 
has  political  enemies  now,  we  have  no  fear  that 


THE   PROCLAMATION.  205 

posterity  will  not  do  him  justice.  His  name  will 
descend  to  history,  as  the  Second  Saviour  of  his 
country.  But  even  if  he  had  done  nothing  else 
during  his  presidential  term,  the  Act  of  Emand- 
pation,,  alone,  would  insure  immortality  to  his 
memory. 

It  were  greatly  to  be  wished,  that,  it  could  be 
recorded  by  the  impartial  historian,  that  the  Act 
of  Emancipation,  which  gave  freedom  to  four 
millions  of  human  beings,  who  had  been  cruelly 
oppressed,  had  been  a  measure  demanded  by  the 
united  voice  of  the  people,  as  an  act  of  justice 
and  humanity — and  that  the  proclamation  had 
been  issued  in  answer  to  that  demand.  We  may 
suppose  that  Heaven  would  have  looked  down, 
with  a  smile  of  complacency,  at  beholding  the 
deed,  and  would  have  blessed  our  land ! 

But  that  proclamation  was  issued  on  the  ground 
of  MILITARY  NECESSITY.  We  were  made  willing 
to  open  the  doors  of  the  prisoner,  and  to  let  the 
oppressed  go  free,  because  the  measure  was  neces 
sary  to  save  ourselves,  and  to  maintain  the  govern 
ment.  We  regret  that  we  are  compelled  to  in 
dulge  the  reflection  that  if  our  own  salvation  had 
not  imperatively  required  the  measure,  the  poor 
African  slave  might  still  have  hugged  his  chains, 


206  THE   PROCLAMATION. 

and  still  have  sighed  in  vain  for  freedom,  under 
the  very  shadow  of  the  temple  of  freedom ! 

We  have,  as  a  nation,  done  what  was  right,  but 
not  because  it  was  right.  We  have  performed  a 
great  and  glorious  act  of  justice,  but  not  because 
it  was  justice.  We  have  freed  the  slave  from  his 
abject  and  degrading  state  of  bondage,  but  not 
because  prompted  by  sentiments  of  pity  and 
humanity.  But,  nevertheless,  since  the  act  of 
Justice,  and  right,  and  humanity  has  been  passed, 
and  there  is  an  end  of  slavery,  we  will  say  that 
we  are  satisfied — that  we  are  thankful ! 

The  African  people,  will  remember  the  house  of 
their  bondage,  from  which  they  were  redeemed, 
with  so  many  signs  and  terrible  judgments.  They 
will  not  forget  the  day,  when  they  were  proclaimed 
free.  The  first  day  of  January  will  be  their  great 
anniversary,  the  annual  return  of  which,  will  be 
celebrated  by  joyful  acclamations  and  hymns  of 
praise  from  a  grateful  people,  down  to  the  latest 
times.  And  while  they  give  to  the  Great  Creator, 
all  the  glory  of  their  deliverance  and  their  salva 
tion,  they  will  cherish  the  name  of  Abraham  Lin 
coln,  who  was  the  chosen  instrument  in  His  hand, 
in  accomplishing  their  deliverance. 


207 


XVI. 

HOW  TO   DISPOSE    OF   THE    LIBERATED 
SLAVES. 

"  TAKE  no  thought  for  the  morrow,  for  the 
morrow  shall  take  thought  for  the  things  of  itself," 
is  a  wise  and  judicious  saying,  which  may  be  com 
mended,  as  worthy  of  attention,  to  that  numerous 
class  of  philanthropists,  who  manifest  so  much 
concern  about  the  future  of  the  emancipated  slave. 
One  would  almost  conclude,  from  the  unusual  anx 
iety  which  they  seem  to  feel  lest  these  poor  Afri 
cans  should  be  starved  to  death  among  us,  or  be 
unable  to  find  a  home  in  this  broad  land,  that 
they  had  been  appointed  as  the  guardians  of  the 
colored  race,  and  were  solely  responsible  for  their 
future  welfare,  and  their  good  conduct. 

Now,  it  may  be  sufficient  to  remind  all  such 
charitably  disposed  persons,  that  they  may  con 
sider  themselves  as  relieved  from  all  such  respon 
sibility,  as  the  Divine  Being  is,  "  de  natura  rerum" 


208  HOW  TO   DISPOSE  OF 

the  Guardian  of  the  race.  He  took  care  of  them, 
when  they  were  in  bondage — He  brought  them 
out  of  a  state  of  Slavery — And  he  can  provide  for 
them  in  a  state  of  freedom. 

If  we  did  not  know  that  it  is  written,  "The 
poor  are  God's  heritage,"  and  that  it  is  His  special 
prerogative  to  take  care  of  His  own,  we  might 
believe  these  whining  and  sickly  sentimentalists 
were  in  earnest,  and  meant  something,  when  they 
utter  so  much  cant,  as  to  the  future  starvation  and 
wretchedness  in  store  for  the  Africans,  as  the  con 
sequence  of  their  emancipation. 

Of  one  thing  we  may  rest  well  assured,  and 
that  is,  the  burden  of  caring  for,  and  providing 
for  their  temporal  support,  will  not  fall  on  the 
Northern  States.  The  South  will  be  their  future 
home,  both  because  it  is  their  native  land,  and  the 
clime  congenial  to  their  nature.  The  apprehen 
sion  that  a  tide  of  emigration  will  begin  to  flow 
towards  the  North,  by  which  every  town  and 
county  in  the  Northern  States,  will  be  overrun 
and  burdened  by  hordes  of  vagrant  and  idle  ne 
groes,  is  altogether  an  imaginary  evil,  which,  if  it 
should  happen,  would  be  in  direct  contravention 
of  all  the  known  laws  of  nature. 

The  A  fricans  are  a  gregarious  or  clannish,  people, 


THE   LIBERATED   SLAVES.  209 

as  much  so  as  the  Germans,  the  Irish,  the  Japanese, 
or  any  other  distinct  nationality  or  race.  They 
prefer  the  society  of  their  own  people,  when  they 
can  find  it.  The  free  blacks  scattered  through 
the  Canadas  and  in  the  free  States,  are  those,  who 
escaped  thither,  at  least  the  majority,  to  avoid  op 
pression  in  the  South.  But  when  slavery  is  abol 
ished,  and  when  they  can  live  in  the  South,  and 
enjoy  the  rights  and  privileges  of  freemen,  instead 
of  there  being  a  rush  of  this  population  to  the 
North,  the  tide  of  emigration  will  set  the  other 
way,  and  many  of  those  who  had  been  shivering 
with  cold,  and  freezing  at  the  North,  will  be  glad 
to  seek  their  own  congenial  and  native  clime.  Of 
course,  from  a  variety  of  accidental  and  contin 
gent  causes,  there  will  always  be  individuals  of 
this  race,  as  of  every  other  race,  scattered  over  the 
world.  But  I  do  not  think,  that,  in  ten  or  twenty 
years  hence,  when  the  new  social  order,  conse 
quents  this  rebellion,  shall  be  settled  on  a  sure 
basis,  there  will  be  a  larger  proportion  of  the 
colored  population  in  the  Northern  States,  than 
at  present.  The  great  body  of  them  will  be 
massed  together  in  the  States  bordering  on  the 
Gulf. 
As  for  the  idea  of  colonizing  so  many  millions — 


210  HOW  TO   DISPOSE   OF 

it  is  a  Utopian  scheme.  In  reference  to  the  neces 
sity  or  utility  of  the  plan,  we  might  ask,  cm  bono  ? 
Has  the  scheme  ever  been  found  practicable  ? 
The  States  of  South  America  emancipated  their 
slaves — Mexico  emancipated  her  slaves.  And 
many  of  the  Northern  States  emancipated  their 
slaves,  years  ago.  But,  in  no  instance  was  coloni 
zation  attempted,  nor,  that  I  am  aware  of,  even 
thought  desirable. 

What  evil  has  ever  resulted  from  the  fact 
that  they  wera  permitted  to  remain  in  the  States 
where  they  were  born?  There  have  never  been 
any  collisions  between  them  and  the  white  popu 
lation.  They  have  never  betrayed  a  spirit  of  in 
subordination  to  the  laws  of  the  country.  And, 
I  believe,  that  the  first  case  of  insurrection, 
against  those  by  whom  they  were  liberated,  has 
yet  to  be  recorded.  Under  all  circumstances,  as 
their  history  shows,  they  have  evinced  a  spirit  of 
forbearance,  patience,  and  uncomplaining  meek 
ness,  such  as  no  other  people  have  ever  exhib 
ited.  Now,  wherefore  should  a  whole  nation  be 
transported,  at  incredible  expense,  from  the  homes 
of  their  birth,  to  another  and  distant  continent? 
The  idea  is  absurd.  It  cannot  be  done — It  will 
not  be  done.  There  is  no  necessity,  and  no 


THE  LIBERATED   SLAVES.  211 

reason  in  the  world,  why  such  a  measure  should 
be  attempted. 

Moreover,  they  can  be  made  a  useful  popula 
tion  in  this  country.  Indeed,  their  labor  and 
services  could  not  well  be  dispensed  with.  It 
would  be  like  the  amputation  of  a  right  arm,  or 
severing  a  sinew  that  supports  the  body,  for  the 
nation  voluntarily  to  deprive  itself,  of  such  an 
amount  of  useful  and  productive  labor.  A  more 
egregious  piece  of  folly  could  not  well  be  con 
ceived  of.  Rice,  sugar,  and  cotton,  are  staple 
productions,  and  indispensable  in  all  the  markets 
of  the  world.  And  how  are  we  going  to  do  with 
out  them?  The  negroes  are  habituated  to  the 
culture  of  these  staples.  It  is  their  occupation. 
And  shall  we  deprive  them  of  their  occupation, 
and  ourselves,  at  the  same  time,  of  these  neces 
sary  and  valuable  productions,  or  become  depend 
ent  on  other  countries  for  a  supply  of  them? 

Interest,  then — the  reciprocal  interest  of  them 
selves  and  the  white  population,  imperatively  de 
mands  that  they  shall  remain  in  the  country,  and 
apply  themselves  to  the  pursuits  which  they  have 
so  thoroughly  learned,  thereby  gaining  an  honest 
livelihood  for  themselves,  besides  bringing  a  large 
revenue  into  the  national  treasury. 


212  HOW  TO   DISPOSE   OF 

But  will  they  not  relapse  into  idleness  and 
barbarism,  after  they  are  freed?  The  lying 
slander  has  been  repeated  a  thousand  times,  by 
slave-holders,  and  the  abettors  of  the  system,  that 
the  negro  will  not  work  unless  he  is  compelled 
by  the  lash  ;  and  that  the  only  way  to  keep  him 
from  running  back  into  his  original  barbarism,  is, 
to  keep  him  in  Slavery.  I  aver,  after  long  ob 
servation,  that  the  only  industrious  and  laboring 
population  in  the  Southern  States,  is  the  negro 
race.  If  there  shall  be  any  starvation,  resulting 
from  idleness,  after  the  Act  of  Emancipation  shall 
have  gone  into  effect  in  all  the  States,  it  will 
not  be  among  the  once  enslaved  race,  but  among 
those  who  were  formerly  their  masters.  They 
never  did  work — They  are  not  accustomed  to  it 
—They  despised  labor — They  passed  their  days 
in  indolence — And  it  will  be  no  surprising  thing, 
if  many  of  them  should  come  to  want  and  beg 
gary,  or  be  supported  by  charity.  It  is  to  be 
hoped  their  sympathizing  friends  in  the  Northern 
States,  will  lend  a  gracious  ear  to  their  appeals, 
when  they  shall  be  made. 

There  never  has  been  any  substantial  proof 
adduced,  in  support  of  the  oft-repeated  falsehood, 
that  the  negro-race  arc  naturally  more  indolent 


THE  LIBERATED   SLAVES.  213 

than  any  other  race,  and  that  they  will  not  work, 
unless  compelled  by  the  lash.  A  thorough  investi 
gation,  in  the  West  Indies,  whence  the  slander 
was  first  started,  has  shown  that  they  have  never 
refused  to  work,  when  they  obtained  a  reasonable 
compensation  for  their  labor. 

Let  the  officers  of  our  army  be  called  on,  for 
testimony  on  this  point,  who  have  required  their 
services  at  Vicksburg,  and  other  places,  in  digging 
ditches  and  trenches,  and  in  erecting  fortifications. 
In  all  these  Southern  States,  where  the  war  has 
raged,  they  have  been  hewers  of  wood  and  draw 
ers  of  water — in  fact,  they  have  been  drudges  and 
slaves  for  our  army.  But  have  they  ever  refused 
their  services,  when  asked,  in  the  first  instance? 
Never !  Whenever,  and  wherever  it  has  been  sig 
nified  that  work  was  required  to  be  done  by  them, 
they  have  thrown  themselves  into  it  with  an  en 
ergy  and  good  will,  which  ought  to  put  to  silence 
the  lying  calumny,  at  least,  in  the  minds  of  all 
our  military  commanders. 

The  thousands  of  contrabands,  who  came  into 
camp,  when  General  Butler's  army  took  possession 
of  the  Lafourch  district,  above  New  Orleans,  were 
willing  to  return  to  work,  every  man  and  woman, 
upon  the  assurance  that  they  were  under  the  pro- 


214  HOW  TO  DISPOSE  OF 

tection  of  our  Government,  and  should  not  be 
left  absolutely  at  the  mercy  of  their  former  mas 
ters.  And  they  have  been  working  industriously 
ever  since,  for  a  bare  nominal  pay  of  two  or 
three  dollars  per  month. 

No,  it  is  not  true,  that  the  negro  will  not  work. 
He  has  always  been  used  to  labor — And  he  has 
no  aversion  to  it.  And  our  Government  could 
not  commit  a  greater  blunder,  than  to  transport 
such  a  population  out  of  the  country. 

But  after  all,  there  is  an  insuperable  prejudice 
against  the  African  race,  in  the  minds  of  many, 
and  they  have  got  the  idea,  some  how,  into  their 
heads,  that  the  two  races  cannot,  and  ought  not 
to  dwell  together,  in  the  same  country. 

It  is  the  merest  folly  to  attempt  seriously,  to 
combat  a  weak  and  silly  prejudice.  But  I  would 
advise  all  those  who  have  such  a  dislike  to  a 
dark  skin,  and  to  the  peculiar  odor  of  an  African, 
as  not  to  be  willing  to  live  in  the  same  country, 
to  emigrate  to  Europe,  and  leave  America  to  the 
colored  race,  and  to  those  who  are  willing  to 
dwell  on  the  same  continent  with  them.  In  the 
Providence  of  God,  they  were  brought  to  America, 
and  it  is  just  as  much  their  country  as  it  is  that 
of  the  white  man.  And  if  there  is  a  white  man, 


THE  LIBERATED  SLAVES.  215 

who  cannot  live  with  the  black  man,  let  him  leave 
the  country,  and  return  to  the  land  of  his  fathers, 
and  not  demand  that  the  black  man  be  driven 
away,  who  has  an  equal  right  here  with  him 
self. 

But  there  is  no  necessity— there  is  room  enough 
in  this  country  for  all.  Let  those  who  have  this 
peculiar  dislike  to  the  color  of  an  African,  remain 
in  the  Northern  States.  He  will  not  often  see  an 
African  there,  to  offend  his  sight,  or  his  olfactory 
nerve.  He  is  not  compelled,  by  any  necessity,  to 
remove  South,  where  the  Africans  will  be  princi 
pally  congregated. 

But  now,  seriously,  I  would  ask,  if  the  white 
and  black  populations  could  mix  together,  and 
associations,  as  to  all  the  social  relationships  and 
duties  of  domestic  life,  were  not  so  very  disagree 
able  and  irksome,  when  the  latter  were  held  in  a 
state  of  slavery,  what  will  render  the  same  or 
similar  associations  so  very  repugnant  and  offen 
sive,  when  they  shall  become  intelligent  and  edu 
cated  freemen  ?  Some  of  the  very  elite  of  Ameri 
can  Society,  the  aristocrats  of  the  land,  the 
educated,  the  fashionable,  and  the  refined,  have 
been  able,  not  only  to  dwell  with  them  in  the 
same  country,  and  to  tolerate  their  dark  color 


216  HOW  TO  DISPOSE   OF 

and  their  African  odor,  but  they  even  had  such  a 
partiality  and  affection  for  them,  that  they  could 
not  do  without  their  presence  in  the  nursery,  in 
the  kitchen,  in  the  parlor,  and  in  every  other 
department  of  domestic  life.  They  could  hardly 
relish  their  food,  unless  prepared  by  the  hand  of 
some  negro  cook.  In  short,  the  African  was  con 
sidered  as  an  essential  element  in  the  constitution 
of  a  perfect  social  system.  And  we  may  conclude, 
that,  there  will  be  multitudes  who  will  be  able  to 
abide  still  on  this  continent,  although  the  negro- 
race  should  not  be  compelled  to  leave  it. 

Let  them  reman  in  the  land  of  their  birth. 
Let  them  continue  to  cultivate  the  fertile  rice 
districts  of  South  Carolina,  arid  the  lowlands  of 
Florida,  Louisiana,  and  the  Mississippi  and  Gulf 
coasts,  in  sugar  and  cotton.  We  shall  need  these 
staples,  and  none  can  produce  them  so  well  as 
they.  We  can  give  them  churches  and  schools. 
And  Providence  can  work  out  the  problem,  that, 
the  African  can  be  developed  into  the  highest 
type  of  man.  It  is  the  destiny,  which,  beyond  a 
peradventure,  awaits  them.  Another  age  may  see, 
that,  though  the  different  families  of  man,  are 
distinguished  by  certain  peculiarities  of  language 
and  climate,  yet  they  are  but  one  family,  after  all, 


THE  LIBERA1LD   SLAVES.  217 

and  can  dwell  together  in  harmony  and  peace,  in 
the  same  country,  and  under  a  common  govern 
ment.  This  is  the  lesson  we  ought  to  learn.  That 
it  is  the  design  of  the  Great  and  Supreme  Father, 
we  should  understand  it.  there  can  be  no  doubt. 


218 


XVII. 
RELIGIOUS  CHARACTER  OF  THE  NEGRO. 

-  THERE  is  one  element  in  the  native  African 
character,  which  proves,  at  least,  that  they  are 
endowed  with  immortal  souls,  and  that  is,  the 
strong  and  original  tendency,  in  their  minds,  to 
religious  devotion.  Materialistic  writers  have  en 
deavored  to  create  doubts,  whether  there  be  any 
such  thing  as  mind  or  spirit,  as  distinct  from 
man's  corporeal  being,  and  capable  of  an  exis 
tence,  separate  from,  and  independent  of  the 
body. 

I  have  never  bestowed  any  thought  on  such 
writers,  believing  their  speculations  to  be  utterly 
unworthy  of  notice.  If  the  creation  of  a  man, 
proves  the  existence  of  an  intelligent  Creator,  so 
does  the  creation  of  man  as  a  religious  being,  prove 
the  fact  of  his  accountability — and  if  he  is  accoun 
table  to  his  God,  he  must  be  immortal,  and  tho 
proof  of  this,  is  inscribed  on  his  physical  being, 


RELIGIOUS   CHARACTER   OF   THE   NEGRO.        219 

by  the  finger  of  Jehovah,  notwithstanding  all  that 
infidels  have  said. 

There  is  no  other  religious  animal  in  the  world, 
that  we  know  of,  but  man.  Man  is,  by  his  nature 
and  original  constitution,  a  religious  being.  And 
if  this  proves  him  to  be  immortal,  the  argument 
is  conclusive  to  prove  that  Africans  have  souls. 
I  make  this  observation,  on  account  of  the  many 
puerile  and  ridiculous  attempts  to  prove  the  in 
feriority  of  the  negro  race.  It  is  true,  none  of 
them  had  the  hardihood  to  avow  that  negroes 
have  not  souls.  But  the  whole  drift  and  tendency 
of  the  speculations  of  some  of  them  looked  in  that 
direction,  and  indicated  plainly  enough,  that,  it 
was  just  what  they  would  have  avowed,  if  they 
had  not  feared  the  effect  of  such  an  avowal. 

Dr.  Samuel  Cartw right  styled  the  negro  race, 
the  "Prognathous  race"  He  says  "the  typical 
negroes  of  adult  age,  are  proved  to  belong  to  a 
different  species,  from  the  man  of  Europe  or  Asia, 
because  the  head  and  face  are,  anatomically,  con 
structed  more  after  the  fashion  of  the  Simiadiae 
(monkeys)  and  the  brute  creation,  than  the  Cau 
casian  and  Mongolian  species  of  mankind,  their 
mouth  and  jaws  projecting  beyond  the  forehead 
containing  the  anterior  lobes  of  the  brain.  More- 


220       KELIGIOUS   CHARACTER  OF  THE  NEGRO. 

over,  their  faces  are,  proportionally,  larger  than 
their  crania,  instead  of  smaller,  as  in  the  other 
two  species  of  the  genus  man.  Young  monkeys 
and  young  negroes,  however,  are  not  prognathous, 
like  their  parents,  but  become  so,  as  they  grow 
older." 

Here  is  another  brief  quotation  from  the  same 
essay  of  the  learned  Doctor :  "  On  another  point, 
of  much  importance,  there  is  no  practical  differ 
ence,  between  the  Rev.  Missionary  (Mr.  Bowen) 
and  that  clear-headed,  bold  and  eccentric  old 
Methodist.  Dr.  McFarlane.  Both  believe  that  the 
Bible  can  do  ignorant,  sensual  savages  no  good ; 
both  believe  that  nothing  but  compulsatory  power 
can  restrain  uncivilized  barbarians  from  Polygamy, 
inebriety,  and  other  sinful  practices."  This  con 
clusion  of  the  Doctor,  if  they  are  as  near  akin  to 
the  monkey  tribes  as  to  the  genus  man,  is  natural 
and  legitimate. 

The  Baptist  Missionary  Bowen  had  been  to 
Africa,  sent  thither  by  a  society  in  Charleston. 
He  had  been  brought  up  in  Georgia,  and  all  his 
prejudices  were  in  favor  of  slavery.  He  found  the 
natives  of  Africa  in  a  condition  so  far  inferior  to 
that  of  the  slaves  of  his  own  native  State,  that,  he 
hastily,  and  I  will  add,  wickedly  concluded,  that 


RELIGIOUS   CHARACTER  OF  THE  NEGRO.        221 

the  only  way  to  christianize  the  Africans  was  to 
enslave  them.  Dr.  Cartwright  seizes  the  conclu 
sion,  but  too  well  predisposed  by  his  theory,  and 
makes  a  bold  and  rash  attack  on  the  Bible,  as  ail 
instrumentality,  inadequate  to  the  conversion  or 
civilization  of  savages.  Adopting  his  theory  and 
conclusions,  we  should  never  have  attempted  the 
conversion  of  the  natives  of  the  Sandwich  Islands  ; 
but  we  ought  to  have  sent  pirate  ships  thither  to 
bring  them  away  in  chains,  and  then  to  have  sold 
them  into  slavery,  before  we  attempted  their  con 
version.  Nay  more,  we  should  first  have  enslaved 
the  Cherokee  and  Choctaw  Indians,  resident  in 
the  Southern  States,  before  we  tried  to  christianize 
them.  We  remember  very  distinctly,  that,  when 
the  attempt  was  first  undertaken,  with  the  Bible 
to  convert  and  civilize  them,  there  were  many 
who,  like  Dr.  Cartwright,  believed  it  could  not  be 

done. 

It  is  to  be  lamented  that  such  a  writer  should 
be  able  to  quote  the  opinion  of  a  Christian  minis 
ter,  in  favor  of  the  infidel  sentiment.  It  is  not 
only  a  slur  on  the  Bible ;  but  it  is  an  inversion 
of  the  order  of  things  ordained  by  God,  to  say, 
that  the  Bible  can  do  no  good,  till  "  compulsatory 
power"  or  slavery,  has  restrained  uncivilized  bar- 


222        RELIGIOUS   CHARACTER   OF   THE   NEGRO. 

barians,  from  polygamy  and  other  sinful  practices. 
The  Bible  is  God's  great  moral  lever,  to  move  the 
moral  world — the  only  lever  that  has  ever  moved 
it,  the  only  one  that  can  move  it.  Nothing  else 
has  ever  curbed  and  restrained  the  sinful  passions 
of  men,  and  produced  morality  in  the  world.  The 
most  reckless  infidel  would  hardly  presume  to  cite 
us,  to  any  instance  of  a  nation,  with  a  pure  sys 
tem  of  morality,  without  the  Bible. 

I  hazard  the  remark,  that,  if  one  quarter  of 
the  sum  expended  in  fitting  out  ships  during  the 
last  two  or  three  centuries  to  rob  Africa  of  her 
children,  and  in  carrying  on  the  Slave-Trade,  had 
been  expended  in  sending  Bibles  to  Africa,  and 
missionaries  to  instruct  the  natives  to  read  it, 
there  would  not  have  been  a  barbarian,  on  the 
whole  continent  of  Africa  to-day. 

They  are  just  as  religious  by  nature,  if  any 
thing  more  so,  than  the  Indian,  or  the  native  of 
the  South  Sea  Islands.  And,  as  to  their  intel 
lectual  character,  if  there  is  any  difference  be 
tween  the  African,  and  the  Asiatic  or  the  Indian, 
every  capable  and  impartial  observer  will  give  it, 
without  the  least  hesitation,  in  favor  of  the  former. 
There  is  a  certain  sprightliness  of  character  and 
genius,  belonging  to  the  negro,  which  does  not 


RELIGIOUS   CHARACTER  OF  THE  NEGRO.        223 

belong  to  the  Asiatic  or  the  Indian.     Physically, 
he  is  altogether  the  superior  man. 

Having  spent  many  years  in  ministerial  labors, 
both  among  the  white  and  black  populations,  at 
the  South,  I  am  prepared  to  express  the  opinion, 
that  there  is  a  far  greater  amount  of  genuine  re 
ligious  piety,  among  the  latter  than  among  the 
former.  The  religious  statistics  of  different  com 
munities  would  confirm  this  statement.  There 
are  as  many  colored  church  members  in  the  Prot 
estant  churches  of  New  Orleans,  as  there  are 
white  communicants,  although  the  white  popula 
tion  is  more  than  twice  as  great  as  the  colored. 
Take  the  city  of  Richmond,  and  the  same  thing  is 
true.  There  are  more  colored  than  white  com 
municants.  There  is  a  single  African  Church  in 
that  city,  numbering  over  two  thousand  members, 
which  is  more  than  the  whole  number  of  white 
communicants  in  all  the  churches,  although  there 
are  two  white  inhabitants  for  every  colored  per 
son  in  the  city.  Could  these  things  be  so,  if  the 
negro  were  naturally,  more  depraved  than  other 
men,  and  insusceptible  to  religious  and  moral  in 
fluences?  Do  not  such  facts  prove  that  Africans 
have,  even  more  of  the  religious  element  in  their 
nature,  than  the  whites? 


224        RELIGIOUS   CHARACTER  OF  THE   NEGRO. 

I  would  not  assert,  that,  throughout  the  South 
ern  States,  these  relative  proportions  in  the  num 
bers  of  the  pious,  would  be  kept  up  between  the 
two  populations.  For  very  obvious  reasons,  there 
would  be  found  to  be  considerable  variations. 
And  one  principal  reason  is,  that  the  two  classes 
do  not  enjoy,  and  never  have  enjoyed  the  same  or 
equal  religious  privileges.  There  is  many  a  large 
district  or  region,  where  the  slaves  have  no  means 
of  grace.  I  could  name  a  single  planter,  who 
owns,  at  least,  a  thousand  negroes,  who,  I  suppose, 
would  not  give  a  dime  to  pay  a  minister  of  the 
Gospel  to  preach  to  them,  to  save  them  all  from 
eternal  perdition.  For  he  is  a  wicked  old  sin 
ner,  and  does  not  believe  in  the  Gospel.  Where 
they  are  denied  the  means  of  grace,  it  is  not  to 
be  expected  that  they  should  become  religious. 
But  give  them  the  same  advantages  with  the 
whites,  and  I  am  strongly  inclined  to  the  belief 
that,  everywhere,  they  will  be  the  more  Christian 
people.  I  offer  no  reason  for  this  opinion,  only, 
that  so  far  as  my  observation  has  extended,  every 
where,  it  is  so. 

I  am  aware  that  there  are  many,  very  refined 
and  elegant  people,  who  do  not  place  a  very 
high  estimate  on  a  negro's  piety.  They  think 


RELIGIOUS   CHARACTER   OF   THE   NEGRO.        225 

him  a  superstitious  rather  than  a  religious  being, 
and  his  piety  is  taken  for  superstition  rather 
than  religion.  I  know  that  there  is,  generally. 
a  fervor  that  characterizes  the  religious  devo 
tions  of  the  African,  not  often  to  be  found  in 
the  worship  of  white  congregations.  But  we  can 
not  think  the  Father  Supreme  will  deem  their 
humble  sacrifice  as  less  worthy  of  his  notice,  be 
cause  their  whole  heart  is  in  it.  True,  they  may 
not  be  permitted  to  worship  in  temples  of  gothic 
structure,  built  by  art,  and  richly  decorated— 
Their  ministers  may  not  be  the  most  graceful 
and  polished  in  their  manner,  and  may  not  be 
able  to  round  each  sentence  in  their  sermons,  ac 
cording  to  the  most  classical  and  elegant  model 
— And  they  may  have  no  deep-toned  organs  to 
accompany  their  loud  and  clear  voices  in  hymn 
ing  Jehovah's  praises.  But  still,  they  generally 
sing  with  a  fervor  and  spirit,  not  always  found 
in  our  more  fashionable  congregations,  where  the 
music  is  made,  not  by  the  worshippers,  but  by 
hired  substitutes. 

I  remember  that,  on  one  occasion,  during  the 
year  1847,  I  heard  the  sublimest  strains  of  church 
music  I  ever  listened  to,  in  that  grand  African 
church  in  Richmond.  Indeed,  I  may  say,  I  never 


226        RELIGIOUS    CHARACTER   OF   THE   NEGRO. 

expect  to  hear  such  church  music  again,  on  this 
side  of  Jordan  ;  for  really  I  know  of  no  fitter 
words,  to  convey  a  proper  idea  of  its  effect  on 
my  mind  at  the  time.  The  church  edifice  occu 
pies  the  site  of  the  old  theater,  that  was  burned 
some  years  ago.  They  have  a  large  choir,  who 
are  instructed  in  the  science  of  music.  But,  I 
can  say  that  some  of  their  voices  sounded  to  me 
more  melodious  and  musical  than  the  sweetest- 
toned  instruments.  Church-organ  music  is  nothing 
compared  to  it.  It  would  be  difficult  to  persuade 
me  that  the  Africans  cannot,  as  a  general  rule, 
sing  better  than  the  whites.  But  the  most  in 
teresting  feature  in  their  music  is,  that,  it  always 
seems  to  come  from  the  heart. 

It  is  true,  this  may  be  all  mere  superstition, 
or  religious  enthusiasm.  And  I  may  be  consid 
ered,  by  some,  as  tinctured  with  the  same  sort 
of  enthusiasm  myself,  for  the  expression  of  such 
sentiments.  But  I  cannot  help  it.  I  am  bound 
to  think  that  the  Supreme  Father  must  have  a 
special  regard  to  that  people,  who  have  so  large 
a  share  of  the  divine  or  religious  element  in  their 
natural  character. 

If    there  is   any  principle  in   a  human  being 
that  may  be  called  divine,  it  certainly  is  the  reli- 


RELIGIOUS   CHARACTER    OF   THE   NEGRO.        227 

gious  element  of  his  nature.  And  we  have  a  right 
to  conclude  that  the  nation  or  people  which  have 
this  principle  developed  in  the  highest  degree, 
must  have  a  high  and  noble  destiny  in  reserve 
for  them. 

Here,  I  must  borrow  one  of  Emerson's  carly- 
lisms,  for  it  well  expresses  my  meaning  : 

"I  esteem  the  occasion  of  this  jubilee  (West 
Indian  emancipation),  to  be  the  proud  discovery 
that  the  black  race  can  contend  with  the  white ; 
that,  in  the  great  anthem  which  we  call  history, 
a  piece  of  many  parts,  and  vast  compass,  after 
playing  a  long  time,  a  very  low  and  subdued 
accompaniment,  they  perceive  the  time  arrived 
when  they  can  strike  in  with  effect,  and  take  a 
master's  part  in  the  music.  The  civility  of  the 
world  has  reached  that  pitch,  that  their  more 
moral  genius  is  becoming  indispensable,  and  the 
quality  of  this  race  is  to  be  honored  for  itself. 
For  this,  they  have  been  preserved  in  sandy 
deserts,  in  rice  swamps,  in  kitchens  and  shoe- 
shops,  so  long ;  now  let  them  emerge,  clothed, 
and  in  their  own  form." 


228 


XVIII. 
THE  COLORED  REGIMENTS. 

AT  a  late  hour,  the  Government  has  determined 
to  call  in  the  aid  of  the  African,  for  the  purpose 
of  putting  down  this  mighty  Rebellion.  After 
having  tried,  in  vain,  for  two  years,  the  experi 
ment  of  subjugating  the  South,  without  permit 
ting  a  single  colored  man  to  become  a  soldier, 
and  even  after  having  refused  their  services  when 
voluntarily  offered,  in  the  common  cause,  they 
have  at  last  been  compelled,  reluctantly,  to  arm 
the  negro  to  save  the  Union ! 

If  this  policy  had  been  adopted  at  the  very 
beginning  of  the  struggle,  it  would  have  been 
ended  months  agone.  But  a  decree  had  gone 
forth,  which  no  policy  of  man  could  counteract  or 
circumvent,  that  the  victims  required  as  sacrifices 
on  the  bloody  altar,  in  this  war,  must  be  of  the 
white,  not  the  black  race.  And  the  consequence 
is,  that,  we  have  offered  up  our  own  sons  and 


THE   COLORED    REGIMENTS.  229 

brothers  by  the  hundred  thousand.  To  preserve 
our  own  soldiers  from  utter  extirpation,  and  to 
preserve  our  National  existence,  we  have  at  last, 
magnanimously,  consented  to  let  the  negro  bear 
an  honorable  part,  in  the  effort  to  maintain  the 
substance  of  Republican  Liberty. 

Tell  me,  in  the  name  of  reason,  why  it  is  that 
a  great  and  enlightened  people,  in  a  war  for 
liberty,  and  for  the  preservation  of  free  institu 
tions,  has  ignored  the  very  existence,  except  as 
chattels  and  slaves,  of  an  army  of  more  than  half 
a  million  of  men,  able-bodied,  patriotic  and  brave, 
but  as  unfitted  by  the  very  fact  of  their  deep 
oppression  and  enslavement,  to  take  any  active 
part  in  the  struggle  for  freedom  ?  There  was  a 
fatuity  in  it !  There  is  no  other  answer. 

It  was  not  because  they  were  lacking  in  patriot 
ism,  or  attachment  to  the  Union-cause — for  that 
has  never  been  doubted.  It  was  not  because 
they  were  deficient  in  physical  courage,  and  could 
not  fight  as  soldiers — for  every  intelligent  person, 
who  has  any  knowledge  of  the  African  character, 
knows  the  very  reverse  to  be  true.  The  African 
is  the  best  type  of  the  physical  man,  in  all  South 
ern  latitudes.  Even  the  veriest  advocate  of 
slavery,  who  has  always  lived  at  the  South,  and 


230  THE   COLORED    REGIMENTS. 

known  the  African  character,  has  been  willing  to 
concede  to  them  the  possession  of  physical  cour 
age.  Chancellor  Harper,  one  of  their  best  au 
thorities,  says  : 

"  They  are,  by  no  means,  wanting  in  physical 
strength  of  nerve.  They  are  excitable  by  praise, 
and,  directed  by  those  in  whom  they  have  confi 
dence,  would  rush  fearlessly  and  unquestioning, 
upon  any  sort  of  danger.  With  white  officers, 
and  accompanied  with  a  strong  white  cavalry, 
there  are  no  troops  in  the  world,  from  whom 
there  would  be  so  little  reason  to  apprehend 
insubordination  or  mutiny."  He  further,  adds  : 

"  If,  at  any  time,  we  should  be  engaged  in  hos 
tilities  with  our  neighbors,  and  it  were  thought 
advisable  to  send  such  an  army  abroad  to 
conquer  settlements  for  themselves,  the  invaded 
regions  might  have  occasion  to  think,  that,  the 
scourge  of  God  was  again  let  loose  to  afflict  the 
earth." 

These  sentences  indicate,  clearly,  that  this  highly 
educated  Southern  gentleman  entertained  no  ordi 
nary  opinion  of  the  physical  bravery  and  capa 
cities  of  the  negro  race. 

All  who  have  read  the  accounts  of  the  San 
Domingo  Revolution,  must  know  something  about 


THE    COLORED    REGIMENTS.  231 

the  fiery  enthusiasm  of  the  African  in  the  tumult 
of  battle.  The  very  same  quality  of  his  nature, 
has,  more  than  once,  been  proved,  since  this  san 
guinary  contest  was  commenced.  Colonel  Higgin- 
son,  commanding  the  first  regiment  of  colored 
troops  in  South  Carolina,  as  we  remember,  testi 
fied  that  he  had  never  read  nor  heard  of  any 
thing  to  equal  the  fierceness  and  fiery  ardor  of 
their  attacks,  except  in  the  history  of  the  French 
Zouaves.  A  similar  record  will  go  down  to  his 
tory,  in  honor  of  the  Kansas  Colored  Regiment. 
In  a  late  battle  in  Arkansas,  the  commanding 
General  reported,  that,  they  fought  against  three 
times  their  number  of  Texans,  for.  hours,  with  an 
obstinacy  never  surpassed,  and  finally  routed  them. 
Another  battle-field,  fought  in  the  same  State,  near 
Helena,  where  about  one  thousand  of  our  troops 
contended  against  more  than  twice  that  number 
of  the  enemy,  according  to  the  reports  published- 
at  the  time,  was  saved  entirely  by  the  valor  of 
the  colored  troops  that  belonged  to  the  corps — 
they  were  determined  not  to  surrender — victory 
or  death  was  their  watch-word — and,  though  some 
of  their  white  officers  basely  fled,  they  fought  and 
held  the  enemy,  till  reinforcements  came  to  their 
relief.  Such  records  as  these  speak  volumes. 


232  THE   COLORED   REGIMENTS. 

In  the  Gulf  Department,  the  African  regiments 
have  had  no  opportunity  to  test  their  fighting 
qualities.  They  have  been  stationed  at  Forts 
Jackson,  Pike,  St.  Philip,  Ship  Island  and  other 
places,  to  do  garrison  duty.  In  June  last,  when 
there  was  a  lack  of  men  to  press  the  siege  at 
Port  Hudson,  and  to  make  the  contemplated  as 
sault,  a  portion  of  two  or  three  of  the  regiments 
of  Native  Guards,  (colored),  were  ordered  to  be 
transferred  thither,  and  took  a  part  in  the  bloodi 
est  engagement  fought  during  that  siege.  They 
were  ordered  to  take  a  certain  battery,  in  posses 
sion  of  the  enemy — they  took  it,  though  in  doing 
so,  some  hundreds  of  their  number  fell,  of  the 
wounded  and  killed.  It  was  said,  at  the  time, 
that  they  would  have  held  the  battery,  if  they  had 
been  sustained  by  the  white  troops — but,  that,  not 
being  sustained,  they  were  compelled  to  fall  back 
from  the  position  they  had  gained,  under  the  con 
centrated  fire  and  numbers  of  the  enemy.  But 
they  had  proved  their  courage,  and  the  command 
ing  General  thought  it  not  improper,  in  an  elo 
quent  address,  to  pay  them  a  deserved  and  just 
tribute,  at  the  time,  for  the  valor  displayed  by 
them. 

It  was  in  that  assault,  that  Captain   Kieux,  of 


THE   COLORED   REGIMENTS.  233 

the  First  Regiment,  was  killed.  No  braver  man, 
ever  lived.  He  was  as  black  as  the  ace  of  spades. 
Yet  he  was  an  accomplished  gentleman,  and  every 
officer  who  knew,  loved  and  respected  him.  He 
was  indeed  worthy  to  be  called  a  countryman  of 
the  brave  and  illustrious  Toussant.  I  shall  not 
soon  forget  his  expressive  countenance,  and  the 
impression  made  on  me  by  his  bland,  and  easy, 
and  gentlemanly  manners. 

I  will  not  say  that  our  own  soldiers  have  not 
fought  well,  and  done  their  whole  duty,  on  every 
battle-field  ;  but,  I  must  say,  that,  if  any  compar 
ison  is  made  between  them  and  the  black  troops, 
as  to  the  courage  and  other  soldierly  qualities 
of  each  respectively,  the  palm  cannot  yet  be 
awarded  to  the  former. 

If  Gen.  Butler  had  organized  fifteen  or  twenty 
of  these  regiments  of  black  Native  Guards,  instead 
of  three,  only,  in  the  fall  of  1862,  as  he  probably 
would  have  done,  had  he  remained  in  that  depart 
ment,  they  would  have  been  able,  under  the  lead 
of  officers  only  as  brave  as  themselves,  to  march 
through  western  Louisiana,  and  into  the  very 
heart  of  Texas;  and  no  force  which  the  rebels 
had  in  the  field,  could  have  successfully  opposed 
their  progress.  But,  instead  of  carrying  out  the 


234  THE    COLOEED   REGIMENTS. 

policy,  so  wisely  commenced,  of  arming  the  slave 
population,  the  work  was  suspended  for  some 
months,  and  the  contrabands,  fugitives  from  slav 
ery,  who  came  within  our  lines  for  protection 
and  liberty,  were  remanded  back  to  the  planta 
tions,  to  work,  many  of  them,  for  their  old  rebel 
masters,  for  a  nominal  pay  of  two  or  three  dol 
lars  per  month,  instead  of  being  transformed  into 
freemen  and  soldiers  of  the  Republic,  as  brave 
and  efficient  as  any  the  world  ever  saw. 

Let  no  reader  suppose  that  I  indulge  in  exag 
gerated  statements.  Many  of  the  best  military 
judges,  who  have  visited  the  camps  of  the  Louis 
iana  Native  Guards  (colored),  and  seen  them  on 
dress  parade,  have  acknowledged  them  to  be 
fully  equal  to  any  other  regiments.  As  for  the 
Second  Regiment,  stationed  on  Ship  Island,  I 
can  say,  that,  of  the  scores  of  officers,  who  have 
visited  that  station,  many  of  them  fully  prepos 
sessed  against  the  blacks,  and  against  the  policy 
of  arming  them,  I  have  not  known  one  who  has 
gone  away  without  being  made  a  sincere  and 
genuine  convert  to  the  system.  Many  of  these 
military  gentlemen  have  expressed  the  opinion, 
that  this  colored  regiment  is,  in  drill  and  dis 
cipline,  in  manly  and  robust  form  and  appear- 


THE   COLORED   REGIMENTS.  235 

ance,  and  all  that  constitutes  an  efficient  military 
corps,  quite  equal  to  any  other  regiment  or  corps 
they  ever  saw  on  parade.  Of  course,  this  is  say 
ing  much,  but  I  am  not  giving  my  own  opinion, 
as  I  do  not  profess  to  be  a  critic  in  such  mat 
ters  ;  but  I  am  giving  the  expressed  opinion  of 
others,  who  are  judges.  But  I  can  say,  that,  they 
march  better  than  any  other  soldiers  I  have  ever 
seen.  They  march  to  the  music — with  a  step  so 
uniform  and  simultaneous,  that,  one  would  almost 
be  inclined  to  believe  that  the  whole  army  moved 
with  one  set  of  joints.  No  one  can  see  a  whole 
regiment  in  motion,  with  their  neat  uniforms  and 
furbished  arms,  without  a  thrill  of  pleasure  and 
pride. 

One  reason,  perhaps,  why  they  appear  to  an 
advantage,  as  compared  even  with  some  of  our 
white  regiments,  is,  that  they  feel  a  sort  of 
ambition,  and  think  there  is  something  of  glory 
in  belonging  to  the  great  Army  of  the  Repub 
lic,  battling  for  the  cause  of  Freedom.  They  feel 
that  they  have  been  elevated  in  the  scale  of  hu 
manity.  And  it  is  but  natural  that  they  should 
desire  to  show  themselves  worthy  of  the  honor 
conferred  on  them,  and  the  confidence  reposed  in 
them. 


236  THE    COLORED   REGIMENTS. 

The  Africans,  as  a  race,  have  more  enthusiastic 
fervor  in  their  nature,  and  are  more  governed  by 
impulse  and  sympathy,  than  any  other  people  with 
whom  I  am  acquainted.  It  is  for  this  reason,  that, 
*if  we  go  into  their  religious  assemblies,  we  always 
witness  a  display  of  far  more  earnest  devotion  and 
fervor,  than  is  ever  seen  in  our  more  phlegmatic 
and  formal  white  assemblies.  The  same  principle 
in  their  nature,  would  fire  a  whole  army  of  them 
in  the  field  of  battle,  and  fill  them  with  an  enthu 
siasm  which  would  render  them  invincible,  and 
utterly  reckless  of  danger.  This  is  the  true  ex 
planation  of  the  fact,  that,  as  proved  in  the  wars 
of  San  Domingo,  and  wherever  else  their  courage 
has  been  tested,  they  have  been  found  more  daring, 
if  not  better  disciplined,  than  any  other  soldiers. 
The  negroes,  not  only  have  an  ardent  tempera 
ment,  or  enthusiastic  nature,  which  is  the  very  first 
and  most  essential  element  to  make  a  good  soldier, 
but  here,  in  the  South,  they  possess  powers  of  en 
durance,  beyond  any  other  class  of  the  inhabitants. 
This  fact  is  so  generally  known  and  admitted,  that 
no  additional  testimony  can  be  needed  on  this 
point.  Indeed,  the  learned  Dr.  Cartwright  has 
asserted,  in  his  writings,  that  it  is  impossible  to 
work  a  negro  beyond  the  point  of  his  powers  of 


THE   COLORED   REGIMENTS.  237 

endurance,  so  as  to  injure  his  constitution,  or  cause 
his  death.  The  assertion  is,  upon  the  face  of  it, 
absurd  and  wholly  untrue.  But  still,  it  is  certain 
that  their  power  of  endurance,  under  exhausting 
fatigue  and  labor,  is  a  marked  feature  in  the  char 
acter  of  the  race. 

It  is  not  an  easy  matter  to  speak  of  the  value 
of  the  aid,  which  Providence  made  accessible  to 
us,  and  which  we  have  rejected  and  despised,  in 
the  conduct  of  this  murderous  and  destructive 
war.  Was  it  necessary  to  spare  the  blood  of  the 
Africans  in  our  midst,  and  to  pour  out  our  own  ? 
Did  we  set  a  higher  value  on  the  lives  of  the 
negroes,  than  we  did  on  those  of  our  brothers  and 
sons?  There  was  a  fatuity  in  this,  as  before 
stated ! 

There  was,  what  we  may  call  a  judicial  blind 
ness,  which  had  happened  to  the  nation,  because 
it  seemed  to  be  necessary,  as  a  condition  of  Justice, 
that  the  expiation  for  the  guilt  of  the  nation, 
should  be  made,  not  in  the  blood  of  the  guiltless, 
but  of  the  guilty.  We  shall  see  in  the  end,  per 
haps,  that,  of  those  who  had  not  sinned,  but  were 
sinned  against,  not  more  victims  will  be  offered 
on  the  red  altar  of  war,  than  will  barely  suffice 
to  teach  us,  of  what  service  they  might  have 


238  THE   COLORED   REGIMENTS. 

been,  if  we   had  been    wise    enough  to   employ 
them. 

We  did  not  prosper  in  the  war,  so  long  as  we 
let  slavery  alone,  and  resolved  to  spare  it  as  a 
veneraole  institution.  For  nearly  two  years,  a 
series  of  bloody  disasters  and  defeats  attended  our 
arms.  But  scarcely  had  our  President  uttered  his 
solemn  threat  to  the  rebels,  that  unless  within  a 
specified  time  they  laid  down  their  arms,  and  re 
turned  to  their  allegiance,  he  would  deprive  them 
of  their  idol,  the  god  which  they  had  worshipped, 
when  the  victory  of  Antietam  was  announced) 
which  sent  a  thrill  of  joy  throughout  the  nation — 
as  if  the  God  of  nations  had  even  deigned  to  put 
the  seal  of  his  approval  upon  what  was  nothing 
more,  in  fact,  than  a  simple  threat  or  promise  to 
do  right — to  do  justice,  in  a  certain  contingency. 

Well,  the  rebels  would  not  lay  down  their  arms, 
nor  submit  to  the  Government,  and  the  President 
was  necessitated  to  issue  the  threatened  Proclama 
tion.  It  was  done  reluctantly.  And  after  all,  it 
was  but  a  partial  act  of  emancipation,  as  it  left 
many  still  in  a  state  of  bondage,  whose  chains 
might  have  been  struck  off,  by  the  same  blow,  and 
at  the  same  instant. 

I  would  again  repeat  my  most  solemn  convic- 


THE   COLORED   REGIMENTS.  239 

tion,  that  the  war  will  be  protracted,  and  we 
shall  suffer,  till  we  are  thoroughly  corrected,  as  a 
nation. 

If  we  had,  at  this  moment,  and  we  might  have 
had,  a  compact  army  of  one  hundred  thousand  of 
these  Africans,  well  disciplined,  and  under  brave 
leaders,  they  would   subdue  the  rebellion.      The 
South  could  not  raise  an  army  that  would  dare  to 
face    such  a  host  of    well-armed   and   impetuous 
negro-soldiers.     I  feel  almost   as  sure   of  this   as 
I  do  of  my  own   existence.     They  would  put  an 
end    to    slavery   every  where,   as    they   marched 
through    the   country,   thus    depriving   the   Rebel 
lion   of  its  main   prop   and  pillar,  and   obtaining 
almost  a  bloodless   victory.     The  people    of   the 
South,   if    thus    threatened    and    invaded,   would 
speedily  come  to  terms  and  ask  for  quarter.     For, 
that  they  could  muster  an  army,  consisting  of  the 
sons  of  planters,  and  others  thoroughly  acquainted 
with  the  ardent  and  fiery  nature   of  the  African, 
who  could  be  induced  to  encounter  such  a  host  in 
hostile  array,  upon  equal  terms,  is  a   thought  that 
has    never    entered    into   my   conceptions.      And 
there  is  no   intelligent  person,  who   could,  for   a 
moment,  entertain  such  an  idea. 

In  the  first  place,  their  pride,  and  all  their  early 


240  THE    COLORED   REGIMENTS. 

prejudices,  and  the  notions  instilled  into  them  by 
education,  would  cause  them  to  shrink  irom  a  con 
test,  with  an  army  of  negroes,  upon  terms  of 
equality.  In  the  «econd  place,  they  would  know, 
what  every  one  else  must  feel  well  assured  of, 
that  the  army  of  negro  soldiers  would  be  able  to 
endure,  or  to  hold  oat  yp.  a  fight,  at  least  twice  as 
long  as  IJiemselves.  And  in  the  last  place,  they 
would  have  a  conviction,  that,  in  such  a  contest, 
fighting  not  only  for  freedom,  but  for  their  very 
existence,  and  armed  by  despair,  such  an  army 
would  have  inscribed  upon  their  banners,  victory 
or  death,  and  they  could  never  hope  to  conquer 
them. 

Thus,  we  see  what  might  have  been  done.  But 
I  venture  to  predict,  that,  we  shall  not  have  such 
art  army  in  the  -field,  of  these  fiery,  sable  sons  of 
Africa,  until  just  about  the  period  when  the  war 
is  ended. 

And  then,  we  shall  need  their  help,  not  to 
crush  the  rebellion,  but  to  keep  the  rebels  in 
subjection,  after  they  have  been  subdued.  The 
Government  intends  to  put  them  in  forts  and 
garrisons,  and  other  exposed  places,  for  the  pur 
pose  of  guarding  and  securing  the  citadel  of  our 
freedom,  after  it  shall  have  been  re-established. 


THE   COLORED   REGIMENTS.  241 

Thus,  in  the  Providence  of  God,  they  are  to  be 
appointed  to  act  as  patrols  or  sentinels,  to  watch 
and  keep  down  those,  by  whom  they  had  been 
so  long  watched  and  kept  down.  They  are  to 
be  the  masters,  in  turn,  where  they  had  been  the 
slaves.  There  is  something  like  a  stern  but  just 
retribution  in  this.  Fiat  voluntas  Dei. 


242 


XIX. 

THE   AUTHOR'S   EXPERIENCE  AMONG 
THE   REBELS. 

MY  life,  since  I  have  been  a  man,  acting  on 
my  own  account,  has  been  spent  in  the  South, 
in  the  midst  of  Slavery.  No  sentiment  or  opin 
ion,  therefore,  contained  in  the  foregoing  pages, 
has  been  received  by  me  second-handed,  but  is 
the  result  of  my  own  personal  experience  and 
observation.  I  know  what  I  have  written  about. 
I  know  the  people  of  the  South,  and  their  in 
stitutions,  thoroughly.  I  have  looked  at  slavery 
in  all  its  phases. 

I  acknowledge  that  I  never  did  believe  slavery 
to  be  the  very  summum  bonum  of  all  human  bless 
ings.  When  I  left  Ohio,  in  1831,  and  came  South, 
and  ever  since  I  have  been  in  the  South,  I  have 
had  but  the  one  opinion  in  regard  to  slavery,  and 
that  is  the  opinion  so  often  expressed  by  Jeffer 
son,  and  other  distinguished  statesmen,  that  it  is 


AMONG   THE   REBELS.  243 

a  violation  of  the  natural  rights  of  man,  con 
trary  to  the  letter  and  spirit  of  the  sentiments 
contained  in  our  Declaration  of  Independence, 
and  opposed  to  that  sense  of  natural  justice, 
forming  a  part  of  the  universal  conscience  of 
man,  which  is,  therefore,  rightly  considered  as 
an  exponent  of  what  is  the  Will  of  God,  on 
the  subject.  I  never  did,  I  never  could  believe 
slavery  to  be  right,  in  the  abstract. 

A  sincere  believer  in  the  Bible,  I  have  been 
looking  forward  to  a  better  age,  the  promised 
Millennial  age  of  the  world,  when,  I  firmly  be 
lieved  that  slavery,  and  war,  and  every  other  form 
of  evil,  will  have  been  purged  out,  and  when,  ac 
cording  to  the  promise,  "  there  shall  be  nothing  to 
hurt  nor  destroy,  in  God's  holy  mountain." 

How  this  moral  reformation  of  the  world  was 
to  be  brought  about,  it  is  not  necessary  now  to 
inquire.  But  I  believed  it  was  to  be  done  by 
moral  means,  and  the  circulation  of  the  Bible, 
that  great  moral  lever,  which  God  has  put  into 
the  hands  of  the  Church.  I  was  rather  inclined 
to  believe,  that  slavery,  in  this  land,  would  come 
to  an  end,  in  the  same  way.  But  I  have  dis 
covered,  that,  in  this,  I  was  mistaken.  God  had 
a  controversy  with  our  nation,  which  could  not 


244  THE  AUTHOR'S  EXPERIENCE 

be  settled  in  this  way.  There  were  past  wrongs 
which  could  not  thus  be  rectified  and  redressed. 
I  see  my  mistake  now.  I  see  and  own  God's 
justice.  As  a  nation,  we  had  lost  sight  of  this 
eternal  principle,  written  in  His  Word,  and  in 
scribed  on  the  very  Heavens,  "  Justice  and  Judg 
ment  are  the  habitation  of  Thy  Throne." 

I  acknowledge  that  my  first  impressions  of 
slavery,  on  coming  South,  were  not  of  a  kind  to 
strengthen  even  if  I  had  possessed  any  early  pre 
judices  in  favor  of  the  institution. 

I  passed  the  first  year  in  Greene  county,  Ala 
bama,  and  boarded  in  the  family  of  a  respectable 
planter,  a  member  of  the  Baptist  Church,  and  the 
owner  of  about  twenty-five  slaves.  One  circum 
stance  that  was  novel  to  me,  as  I  had  never  been 
accustomed  to  any  thing  of  the  kind,  was,  to  be 
awakened  every  morning,  or  nearly  every  morning 
at  day-break,  by  the  sound  of  the  overseer's  lash. 
And  as  I  knew  that  every  stroke  cut  the  skin  and 
the  flesh  of  the  naked  back  of  a  slave,  it  made  me 
feel  nervous,  before  I  had  got  used  to  it.  This  was 
the  morning  Utters,  administered  to  each  slave  who 
had  not  performed  a  given  task,  or  picked  so 
many  pounds  of  cotton  the  day  previous. 

I  might    have    remonstrated   with    the  master, 


AMONG   THE   REBELS.  245 

against  the  cruelty  of  the  practice,  but  I  was  then 
a  young  man,  and  a  stranger  in  the  country,  and 
I  knew  it  would  do  no  good,  but  might  get  myself 
into  a  serious  difficulty.  I  have  seen  the  same 
proprietor  and  master,  on  several  occasions,  use  a 
raw-hide  on  the  person  of  his  house-servant,  a  deli 
cate  looking  woman,  about  half  white,  and  desist 
from  the  whipping,  only  when  he  was  actually 
exhausted,  and  could  indulge  his  wrath  no  longer. 
I  remember,  that,  it  occurred  to  me,  on  one  occa 
sion,  to  count  how  many  more  stripes  he  would 
inflict,  after  I  supposed  he  had  already  inflicted, 
at  least  one  hundred  and  fifty,  and  appeared  almost 
exhausted  with  his  effort,  and  I  counted  one  hun 
dred  and  fifty  more,  making  fully  three  hundred 
stripes  that  poor  woman  received,  at  one  time. 
Of  course,  there  was  no  part  of  her  body  that  was 
not  marked,  and  her  garment  was  so  stained,  that, 
it  would  have  been  difficult  to  say  whether  crim 
son  or  purpk  were  not  the  original  color.  At  first, 
she  uttered  loud  and  piercing  cries — but  these 
grew  fainter  and  fainter,  till,  at  last,  they  subsided 
into  a  low,  moaning  sound,  hardly  audible,  as  if 
she  were  engaged  in  a  prayer, — but  whether  it 
was  addressed  to  her  master,  or  to  her  master's 
Master,  I  could  not  decide. 


246 


And  yet,  that  man  was  a  member  of  the  church 
in  good  standing.  Whether  the  victim  of  his 
wrath,  was  a  member  of  the  church  with  him  or 
not,  I  cannot  tell.  He  was  an  acting  justice  of 
the  peace,  at  the  time,  and,  in  all  respects,  stood 
high  in  that  community.  I  have  no  reason  for 
thinking  that  he  was  more  cruel  to  his  slaves 
than  other  masters.  So  far  from  it,  he  was  a 
humane  and  kind  master  as  compared  with  many — 
perhaps,  I  may  say,  a  majority  of  the  slave-holders 
at  the  South.  I  am  speaking  of  a  state  of  things 
which  I  noticed,  on  first  going  South,  and  of  what 
seemed  to  be  the  ordinary  and  established  state  of 
discipline  for  the  slaves,  in  that  community.  No 
body  appeared  to  suspect  there  was  any  moral 
wrong  in  inflicting  one  hundred,  three  hundred,  or 
even  five  hundred  stripes  on  the  back  of  one's 
own  slave,  whenever  he  might  take  it  into  his  head, 
thus  to  indulge  his  humor.  For  this  was  the 
common  custom  of  the  country,  and  there  seemed 
to  be  no  law  against  it.  But,  as  it  struck  me  at 
the  time,  the  system  appeared  to  be  one  of  cruelty. 
And  I  am,  now,  more  than  ever  established  in  the 
opinion,  previously  expressed  in  these  pages,  that, 
the  system  was  not  only  founded  in  cruelty  and 
blood,  but,  that  it  has  been  upheld  by  the  same 


AMONG  THE  REBELS.  247 

means,  so  that  a  righteous  Jehovah  could  not  toler 
ate  its  existence  any  longer  in  this  land. 

The  following  year  I  went  to  Mississippi,  and 
boarded  in  a  family  where  the  regime  observed  in 
the  government  of  the  slaves,  was  about  the  same 
as  in  the  family  with  whom  I  had  lived  in  Ala 
bama.  However,  I  had  an  opportunity,  while  in 
this  family,  to  learn  something  of  the  modes  of 
torture,  or  their  manner  of  dealing  with  runaway 
slaves,  so  as  to  cure  them  of  that  propensity. 

The  man  who  was  to  be  punished,  was  a  young 
man,  apparently  about  twenty  years  of  age,  fully 
six  feet  in  height,  and  a  bright  mulatto,  nearly 
as  white  as  myself — so  near  a  white  man,  in  fact, 
and  so  intelligent  looking  withal,  that,  I  could 
not  help  feeling  a  strong  sympathy  for  him,  al 
though  I  dared  not  to  express  it.  He  was  staked 
to  the  ground,  face  downwards ;  and  burning 
wisps  of  straw  were  passed  over  his  naked  back 
and  loins,  till  he  was  covered  with  blisters.  The 
pain,  of  course,  was  excruciating  at  the  time,  but 
not  calculated,  permanently,  to  injure  or  maim 
the  slave.  I  record  the  circumstance,  merely  to 
show  how  ingenious  is  cruelty,  in  devising  the 
means  of  inflicting  torture  and  pain.  I  had  read 
of  many  ways  of  torturing  victims  and  criminals, 


248  THE  AUTHOR'S  EXPERIENCE 

but  I  had  never  read  nor  heard  of  this  particu 
lar  mode.  But  if  I  should  proceed  to  relate  all 
similar  circumstances  and  facts  that  have  come 
to  my  personal  knowledge,  directly  or  indirectly, 
I  should  have  to  write  another  book,  instead  of  a 
short  chapter,  which  it  is  not  my  intention  to  do, 
at  present. 

For  several  years,  before  the  public  sentiment 
of  the  South,  growing  out  of  slavery,  culminated 
and  broke  out  in  the  Rebellion.  I  had  come  to 
the  conclusion,  that,  liberty  in  those  States,  was 
at  an  end. 

The  terms,  yankee,  and  abolitionist,  had  come  to 
mean  nearly  the  same  thing — and  two  more  op 
probrious  epithets  could  hardly  be  conceived  of, 
in  the  dialect  of  a  Southerner.  If  a  man  hap 
pened  to  have  been  born  at  the  North,  he  had  to 
show  very  clean  papers  to  avoid  being  branded 
as  an  abolitionist ;  and  with  that  brand  once 
fixed  upon  him,  there  was  no  safety,  any  where 
in  the  country.  He  was  liable  to  be  hung  up, 
without  judge  or  jury,  on  any  post-oak  or  black 
jack,  where  he  might  happen  to  fall  into  the 
hands  of  a  mob. 

In  the  year  I860. 1  was  residing  in  the  State  of 
Texas,  in  a  village  called  Hempstead,  fifty  miles 


AMONG   THE   REBELS.  249 

from  Houston,  on  the  railroad  leading  from  that 
city  to  the  northern  limits  of  the  State.  In  the 
month  of  November,  before  the  State  had  as  yet 
seceded,  and  before  any  vote  had  been  taken  on 
that  question,  our  National  flag  had  been  dishon 
ored,  and  trailed  in  the  dust  of  the  streets,  by 
the  rabble.  As  secession  was  the  great  topic  of 
the  day,  and  all  classes  of  people  were  discussing 
it,  some  opposed,  but  the  greater  part  in  favor  of  it, 
I  also,  thinking  myself  a  pretty  good  Southerner, 
ventured  to  have  an  opinion  on  the  subject,  and 
to  express  it,  not  dreaming  of  any  danger  or  vio 
lence  to  myself,  from  doing  so.  I  happened  to 
remark,  in  a  private  conversation,  that,  if  the 
South  should  secede  from  the  Union,  there  would 
be  war  ;  and  that,  in  the  event  of  a  war  between 
the  North  and  the  South,  the  institution  of  slavery 
would  be  overthrown.  This  I  said,  not  from  any 
unfriendly  feeling  to  the  South  or  to  Slavery — 
but  I  intended  it  merely  as  an  argument,  why 
the  South  ought  not  to  secede,  but  to  adhere 
to  the  Union.  I  also  further  remarked,  that 
in  such  a  contest,  the  North  would  have  every 
advantage  over  the  South,  as  they  had  the  navy, 
and  in  numerical  force,  were  three  times  as 
strong  as  the  South. 


250 


I  should  have  remembered,  that,  in  expressing 
these  opinions,  I  was  not  a  slave-holder,  and,  there 
fore,  not  one  of  the  privileged  class.  I  was 
waited  on  the  next  morning,  while  at  breakfast, 
by  five  of  the  most  prominent  citizens  of  the  town, 
who  informed  me,  that,  as  it  was  understood,  I 
had  expressed  opinions  at  variance  with  the  views 
and  feelings  of  the  resident  population,  my  pres 
ence  was  desired  at  a  public  meeting,  which  would 
be  immediately  convened. 

I  will  confess  that  I  felt  some  misgivings  at 
first,  knowing  that  hundreds  of  men  had,  during 
the  past  few  months,  fallen  victims  and  been  hung 
by  the  blood-thirsty  and  brutal  mob  of  the  State ; 
and  that  I  had  myself  narrowly  escaped  out  of 
their  hands  only  two  months  before — so  narrowly 
indeed,  that  my  name  had  actually  been  inserted 
among  those  who  had  been  hung,  in  several  news 
papers  of  the  state. 

The  meeting  was  called,  at  once,  and  there  was 
some  excitement.  But  I  had  several  friends  at 
that  meeting,  who  knew  that  I  was  not  an  abo 
litionist.  Fortunately,  Colonel  Wash.  Crawford, 
an  eloquent  lawyer  from  the  neighboring  town  of 
Washington,  and  the  most  influential  man  in  four 
counties  around,  was  there.  He  arose,  and,  unex- 


liil 


AMONG   THE   REBELS.  251 

pectedly  by  all,  made  such  a  speech  in  my  defense, 
as  shamed  even  those  who  had  accused  me.  He 
had  known  me  for  several  years,  and  my  own 
conscience  acquitted  me  of  the  charge  of  abolition 
ism.  If  any  body  had  called  me  an  abolitionist 
at  that  time,  I  should  have  considered  it  a  gross 
personal  insult. 

I  was  released,  and,  of  course,  I  was  free  once 
more,  but  not  to  express  my  opinions  without  re 
serve.  I  was  taught,  that,  from  that  day,  I  must 
observe  caution.  But  I  have,  ever  since,  con 
sidered  myself  indebted  to  Colonel  Crawford,  for 
my  rescue  out  of  the  hands  of  a  lawless  rabble. 

I  did  not  feel  safe,  and  could  not  breathe  freely 
in  Texas,  from  that  day  ;  and,  although  all  the 
interests  I  had  in  this  world,  lay  in  that  State, 
I  began  to  think  seriously  of  leaving  it.  As  soon 
as  I  could  make  the  necessary  arrangments,  I  did 
leave,  and  found  myself  in  New  Orleans,  in  the 
following  April. 

On  the  12th  of  that  month,  the  rebel  batteries 
were  opened  on  Fort  Sumter.  I  had,  till  then, 
cherished  the  vain  hope,  that,  somehow,  or  in  some 
way,  the  dreaded  crisis  might  be  avoided.  But 
now,  all  hope  of  the  kind,  was  gone,  and  my  mind 
was  decided.  I  was  convinced  that  God  had 


252  THE  AUTHOR'S  EXPERIENCE 

made  the  Southern  people  mad,  in  order  that  they 
might  bring  ruin  and  judgment  on  themselves,  and 
I  said  in  my  heart — Amen — So  let  it  be — since 
they  will  have  it  so.  There  is  no  reflecting  mind 
in  the  country,  but  must  accord  in  the  sentiment 
of  General  Hamilton,  expressed  in  one  of  his  late 
speeches — "  The  veriest  skeptic,  one  icho  never  before 
believed  in  a  God,  cannot  but  recognize  in  this  war, 
the  hand  of  the  Almighty.  Slavery  has  been  permit 
ted  to  perform  its  mission,  and  its  career  is  ended." 

As  I  was  necessarily  detained,  for  several 
months,  in  New  Orleans,  endeavoring  to  transact, 
through  an  agent,  some  unsettled  business  in  Tex 
as,  I  again,  suddenly  and  unexpectedly  found  my 
self  in  limbo.  I  was  summoned  before  his  honor, 
Mayor  John  T.  Monroe,  to  answer  to  the  charge 
of  having  expressed  Union  sentiments.  The  in 
formants  against  me  were  Messrs.  Smith  and 
Rucker,  certain  horse  traders,  who  had  been  stop 
ping  a  few  days  at  the  same  boarding-house  with 
myself.  The  substance  of  their  complaint  against 
me  was,  that  I  had  said,  I  was  for  the  Union. 
In  this,  however,  they  falsified,  for  they  had  never 
heard  me  make  use  of  any  such-  remark.  I  had 
endeavored  to  be  guarded  in  my  words.  It  was 
however,  perhaps,  a  fair  inference  from  remarks  I 


AMONG   THE   REBELS.  253 

had  made  use  of,  in  a  casual  conversation  with 
one  of  them. 

In  speaking  of  the  state  of  affairs  in  Missouri, 
I  did  incidentally  remark  that  the  majority  of 
the  people  in  the  State,  ought  to  rule — and  that 
Gov.  Jackson  ought  to  be  governed  by  the  action 
of  the  Convention,  which  was  the  only  medium, 
through  which,  the  voice  of  the  people  could  be 
heard.  He  dissented  from  the  view  expressed  by 
me,  and  the  next  day  I  had  a  citation  to  appear 
before  the  Mayor,  to  auswer  for  my  words.  I  had 
never  had  the  slightest  personal  altercation  or 
difficulty  with  either  of  the  above  named  ac 
cusers.  I  had  never  wronged  them,  and  I  can 
think  of  no  motive  which  could  have  actuated 
them,  thus,  voluntarily  and  gratuitously,  to  become 
my  accusers,  only  their  hostility  to  the  Union.  I 
have  not  been  able  to  learn  what  became  of 
Smith,  as  I  lay  in  durance  vile  for  nine  months. 
But  I  do  know  that  Eucker,  several  months 
prior  to  the  arrival  of  General  Butler  to  the 
city,  went,  on  a  cattle  speculation,  into  Texas. 
He  had  obtained  the  cattle,  a  very  large  herd, 
and  he  would  have  made  a  fortune  by  the  specu 
lation,  for  beef  was  then  selling  in  the  city  for 
twenty-five  to  fifty-cents  per  pound.  But  unluck- 


254 


ily  for  him,  the  cattle  were  on  the  coast,  above 
the  city,  just  as  Admiral  Farragutt  passed  up 
with  his  victorious  fleet,  and  he  captured  the 
whole  drove.  Rucker  afterwards  appealed  to 
General  Butler,  and  whether  by  taking  the  oath, 
or  by  some  other  process  I  cannot  say,  obtained 
damages  to  the  amount  of  some  hundred-thous 
and  dollars,  less  or  more.  As  he  is  still  in  the 
city  of  New  Orleans,  enjoying  his  otium  cum 
dignitate,  I  trust  this  matter  will  be  more  thor 
oughly  sifted,  as  it  can  be  reduced  to  a  demon 
stration  that  he  was  a  thorough  rebel,  and  that 
he  intended  the  cattle  for  the  Confederates,  and 
not  for  the  Federal  Army. 

The  Mayor  turned  me  over  to  the  care  and 
guardianship  of  Harry  Mitchell,  keeper  of  the  City 
Work  House,  who  had  acquired  such  distinction 
as  a  recruiting  officer  for  the  rebel  army,  that 
even  Russell,  of  the  London  Times,  heard  of  his 
fame,  and  had  to  pay  him  a  compliment  in  his 
journal,  while  on  his  visit  to  the  city.  He  says : 
"  The  New  Orleans  papers  are  facetious  over 
their  new  mode  of  securing  unanimity,  and  high 
ly  laud  what  they  call  the  course  of  instruction 
in  the  humane  institution  for  the  amelioration  of 
the  condition  of  Northern  barbarians,  and  aboli- 


AMONG   THE   REBELS.  255 

tion  fanatics,  presided  over  by  Professor  Henry 
Mitchell,  who,  in  other  words,  is  the  jailer  of 
the  Work  House  Reformatory." 

That  course  of  instruction,  over  which  the  papers 
were  so  facetious,  was  usually  not  very  long,  but 
it  was  most  thorough.  I  should  suppose  that 
the  Professor  sent  not  less  than  a  thousand  men 
into  the  rebel  army.  I  will  not  dwell  on  the 
means  employed  by  him  to  get  soldiers  to  enlist, 
but  will  give  a  single  case,  which  may  serve  to 
convey  some  general  idea. 

Three  Irishmen  had  been  brought  into  the 
Work  House,  at  one  time.  They  said  that  they 
had  been  arrested,  for  no  other  offense,  only  that 
they  had  refused  to  enlist  as  soldiers  in  the 
Confederate  Army.  Whether  they  stated  the 
truth  or  not,  as  to  the  cause  of  their  arrest 
and  incarceration,  it  is  certain,  that,  on  the 
very  next  day  after,  they  were  called  on  by 
Professor  Mitchell,  with  a  recruiting  officer,  and 
asked,  whether  they  would  enlist,  on  condition 
of  being  released  from  the  Work  House,  which 
all  three  of  them  promptly  declined  to  do.  The 
Professor  and  the  recruiting  officer  went  away ; 
but,  the  day  after,  those  three  men  were  loaded 
with  irons,  and  set  at  work  breaking  rock,  with 


256  THE  AUTHOR'S  EXPERIENCE 

heavy  sledges.  A  negro,  perhaps,  might  stand  it 
to  break  rock  all  day  long,  in  the  hot  sun,  with 
a  twenty  pound  sledge,  and  irons  weighing  sixty 
of  seventy  pounds  chafing  his  ancles,  but  no  Irish 
man  can  stand  it,  and,  at  the  end  of  the  first  day, 
the  three  men  signified  their  willingness  to  enlist 
in  the  rebel  army ;  and  accordingly,  the  Professor 
turned  them  over  to  the  recruiting  officer. 

Perhaps,  I  might  not  have  given  the  Professor 
a  notice,  so  much  more  extended  than  Mr.  Russell 
thought  it  necessary  to  bestow  on  him,  but  for  the 
fact,  that,  I  am  under  greater  obligations  than 
Mr.  Russell  for  personal  attentions  received  from 
the  Professor.  And  besides,  as  he  still  presides 
over  the  same  "  humane  institution"  under  the  aus 
pices  of  the  Federal  Government,  it  is  no  more 
than  simple  justice  to  let  the  public  know,  that  he 
is  a  faithful  servant  to  those  who  employ  him,  at 
one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  per  month,  with  the 
perquisites  of  office,  amounting  to  as  much  more. 

I  cannot  speak  of  what  I  suffered  in  that  Work- 
House.  I  could  wish  that  the  nine  months  of 
cruel  penance  there  for  Liberty's  and  conscience' 
sake,  could  be  blotted  from  my  memory.  Invol 
untarily,  sometimes,  as  thought  recurs  to  that  dark 
period,  I  find  my  hand  pressing  my  forehead,  as 


AMONG  THE   REBELS.  257 

if   I  would   press  back   the   thought,  and   relieve 
myself  of  such  melancholy  recollections. 

How  varied  are  the  scenes  of  this  life  !  What 
a  world  of  tribulation  we  live  in !  There  may  be 
those  who  receive  their  portion  of  good  things 
here ;  but  the  Christian  should  ever  bear  in  mind, 
that,  if  he  would  wear  the  crown  at  last,  he  must 
first  learn  to  endure  the  cross — according  to  the 
saying  of  one  of  the  best  saints  that  ever  lived, — 
"  no  cross,  no  crown." 


258 


XX. 

CONCLUSION.— THREE   PARTIES. 

THE  stern  and  inflexible  justice  of  Jehovah, 
in  superintending  and  directing  the  affairs  of  po 
litical  States  and  kingdoms,  is  the  great  and 
practical  lesson,  which  we  have  learned  from 
this  war.  Slavery  was  a  great  evil — -just  as 
great  as  has  been  represented,  and  as  has  been 
proved,  by  facts  which  cannot  be  controverted — 
but  it  was  not  too  great  an  evil  for  the  Genius 
of  Christianity  to  conquer  and  destroy.  It  was 
a  system  that  must  have  crumbled  and  disap 
peared  gradually,  before  the  moral  power  of 
truth  and  righteousness,  as  the  Gospel  gained 
sway.  It  would  be  a  stigma  upon  our  Divine 
system  of  religion,  to  say,  that  there  is  not  a 
moral  energy  in  the  Gospel,  adequate  to  the  final 
overthrow  of  slavery.  To  deny  to  Christianity 
the  possession  of  this  moral  power,  would  be  a 
concession  to  infidelity,  which  we  are  not  willing 


CONCLUSION. — THREE   PARTIES.  259 

to  make.  It  is  the  power,  by  which,  the  com 
plete  moral  renovation  of  the  world  is  to  be 
effected,  and  the  consummation  of  the  Millennial 
age  to  be  achieved. 

Christianity  has,  more  than  once,  demonstrated 
its  power,  to  grapple  with  and  vanquish  the 
monster,  Slavery,  with  the  weapons  of  spiritual, 
instead  of  carnal  and  bloody  warfare.  For,  it 
was  nothing  else  but  the  voice  of  Christianity, 
as  has  been  before  insisted,  speaking  through 
some  of  her  noblest  sons,  which  led  to  the  sup 
pression  of  the  African  Slave  Trade,  and  the 
emancipation  of  the  slaves  in  the  British  West 
Indies,  without  blood.  With  multiplied  proofs  of 
this  kind,  as  to  the  power  of  the  Gospel,  it 
would  betray  the  most  inexcusable  ignorance,  or 
something  worse,  to  assert  that  the  redemption  of 
our  own  land  from  the  curse  of  slavery,  might  not 
have  been  effected  in  the  same  peaceful  and  blood 
less  manner. 

But  there  was  an  insurmountable  barrier  in 
the  way,  and  that  was  the  law  of  Jehovah's 
Throne,  requiring  that  National  crimes  shall  be 
corrected  by  National  judgments.  So  much  inno 
cent  blood  had  been  shed,  that,  an  atonement, 
by  blood,  had  become  indispensable,  to  vindicate 


260  CONCLUSION. — THKEE   PARTIES. 

the  justice  of  the  Divine  Law.  Here  was  Jus 
tice  arrayed  against  Mercy,  in  a  case,  where  it 
was  necessary  that  the  latter  should  yield  to  the 
former.  Many  good  men  and  statesmen,  besides 
Mr.  Jefferson,  predicted,  long  ago.  that  the  claims 
of  justice  would  yet  be  vindicated,  against  the 
slave-tyranny. 

The  Se.cessionists  of  the  South,  or  the  Pro- 
Slavery  party,  are  directly  responsible  for  the 
war,  and  all  its  consequences. 

The  radical  Abolition  party,  in  the  Free  States, 
must  have  the  credit,  by  their  agitation  of  the 
subject  of  slavery,  and  their  violent  and  offen 
sive  manner  of  conducting  the  controversy,  of 
having  alienated  the  Southern  people,  and  driven 
them  to  that  suicidal  act,  by  which  they  rushed 
on  their  own  destruction.  The  collision  between 
these  two  parties,  led  to  the  awful  tragedy,  of 
which  this  great  land  is,  at  present,  the  theater. 
If  there  had  been  no  Abolitionists,  there  would 
have  been  no  Secessionists,  and,  of  course,  no 
civil  war.  But  now,  since  the  consummation  has 
been  reached,  we  have  no  fault  to  find  with  the 
means,  since  it  was  brought  about,  in  the  Divine 
Purpose,  to  scourge  and  correct  the  nation. 

It  would  be  unjust,  however,,  not  to  discriminate 


CONCLUSION. — THREE   PARTIES.  261 

between  this  radical  Abolition  party,  and  the  true, 
loyal  Anti-slavery  party  of  the  country,  who,  in 
deed,  constitute  the  mass  of  the  intelligent  and 
honest  citizens.  This  loyaJ,  Anti-slavery  party 
—that  was  the  Conservative  party  before  the 
rebellion — had  no  part,  and  no  instrumentality 
whatever,  in  the  horrible  deed  of  initiating  the 
war.  They  endeavored  to  prevent  it.  They  were 
always  in  favor  of  conciliation  and  compromise ; 
and,  if  their  counsels  had  prevailed,  there  would 
have  been  no  war. 

President  Lincoln  is,  to-day,  at  the  head  of  that 
party,  and  he  represents  them ;  but  he  is  not  an 
abolitionist.  Secretary  Chase  is  another  noble 
and  patriotic  representative  of  MIQ  same  party. 
And  we  may  say  of  nearly  every  great  and  lead 
ing  mind  in  the  country,  who  has  anything  to  do 
with  the  Government  or  the  Army,  that  they  be 
long  to  this  loyal,  Anti-slavery  party.  It  was  the 
party  to  which  Washington  once  belonged,  and 
Jefferson,  and  the  Adamses,  and  Madison,  and  Ben 
jamin  Franklin,  and  Alexander  Hamilton,  and  the 
peerless  Webster,  and  the  eloquent  Henry  Clay. 
For  every  one  of  them  believed  slavery  to  be  an 
evil,  and  deplored  its  existence.  But  it  would 
be  an  insult  to  the  memory  of  any  of  them  to 


262  CONCLUSION. — THREE  PARTIES. 

say,  that  they  were  Abolitionists,  of  the  "Wendell 
Philips  and  Garrison  school. 

And  can  we  believe — would  it  be  possible  to 
persuade  us,  that,  with  the  whole  moral  power  and 
spirit  of  Christianity,  in  opposition  to  slavery,  and 
the  sentiments  of  all  these  great  statesmen  and 
philanthropists,  whether  now  living,  or  dead,  ar 
rayed  against  the  horrible  system,  it  could  have 
prolonged  its  existence  beyond  the  close  of  the 
present  century,  if  the  Abolitionists  had  not  sprung 
up,  and  interfered  with  the  work  which  they  had 
begun,  of  bringing  about  a  reformation  by  mild 
and  peaceful  measures  which  are  so  much  more 
in  harmony  with  the  laws  of  Divine  Charity  ?  But 
I  reiterate  what  has  been  already  remarked,  that, 
crimes  of  such  a  nature  had  been  committed 
against  the  rights  of  humanity,  in  the  name  of 
Liberty,  that  Heaven  must  have  suspended  its  or 
dinary  laws,  not  to  have  exacted  a  terrible  retri 
bution  from  this  Nation.  Hence  the  Abolitionists 
had  a  mission  to  perform. 

The  party  has  been  in  existence  over  thirty 
years,  and  what  have  they  accomplished  in  that 
time?  They  did  not  convince  slave-holders  of 
their  error,  but,  rather  drove  them,  in  self-defense, 
to  adopt  the  divine-right  principle  in  favor  of 


CONCLUSION. — THREE   PARTIES.  263 

slavery — a  principle  which,  never  before,  had  been 
asserted.  They  did  not  lighten  the  oppression  of 
the  slave,  but  rivetted  tighter  the  chains  of  his 
bondage,  as  thousands  who  have  lived  at  the  South 
could  readily  testify.  And  finally,  to  them  be 
longs  the  honor  of  having  been  employed  as  the 
instruments  to  bring  this  war  upon  the  country,  to 
the  end  that  it  might  be  purged  and  redeemed. 

In  speaking  of  the  Radical  Abolition  party,  I 
would  be  understood  as  referring  to  those,  only, 
who  advocated  the  "  Malum  in  se "  theory.  This 
was  the  New  Gospel,  which  caused  the  division  of 
churches,  founded  under  the  preaching  of  the  Old 
Gospel,  and  which  existed  together,  in  harmony 
and  love  for  ages.  It  was  this  New  Gospel  which 
taught  slaves  to  run  away  from  their  masters  ; 
whereas,  the  Gospel  preached  by  Paul  had  taught 
them  to  be  "obedient"  to  their  masters,  and  even 
to  "  endure  grief,  suffering  wrongfully."  This  New 
Gospel  taught  slaves,  that,  in  effecting  their  escape 
from  bondage,  they  might  steal  whatever  articles 
they  should  consider  necessary,  to  speed  them  in 
their  flight  to  a  land  of  freedom ;  which  was  con 
trary  to  the  Moral  law  contained  in  the  table  of 
the  ten  commandments,  which  forbids  theft.  This 
New  Gospel  required  its  expounders  and  advo- 


264  CONCLUSION. — THREE   PARTIES. 

cates,  to  apply  such  kind  and  fraternal  epithets,  as 
man  stealers  kidnappers,  thieves,  etc.,  to  all  their 
Southern  bi  ethren  involved  in  the  evil  of  slavery  ; 
which  was  contrary  to  the  Gospel  of  Christ,  who, 
'when  reviled,  reviled  not  again,  nor  returned 
railing  for  railing."  In  fine,  this  New  Gospel, 
openly,  inculcated  treason  against  the  Government, 
by  denouncing  the  Union  as  a  curse,  a  compact  with 
hell,  etc. ;  and  by  disallowing,  for  years  past,  its 
leading  defenders  either  to  vote,  or  have  anything 
else  to  do  with  a  Government  so  corrupt.  It  is 
certain  that  if  they  had  had  the  power,  they  would 
have  destroyed  the  present  Government  and  dis 
solved  the  Union,  thirty  years  ago.  Their  work 
is  at  length  accomplished,  and  now  their  mission 
ends. 

But  I  do  not  intend  by  this  to  say  that  they 
have  accomplished  the  destruction  of  the  Union, 
although  some  of  them  have  said,  and  are  still 
saying  that  they  don't  want  the  old  Union.  I  trust 
that  old  Union  will  be  as  lasting  and  firm  as  the 
mountains  and  hills  of  the  great  continent,  over 
which  it  stretches.  We  would  not  acknowledge 
the  mighty  struggle  in  which  we  have  been  en 
gaged,  to  maintain  that  old  and  glorious  Union, 
formed  by  the  wisdom  and  cemented  by  the  blood 


CONCLUSION.— THREE  PARTIES.  265 

of  our  ancestors,  a  failure,  by  saying  that  we  shall 
have  a  new  and  better  Union.  A  better  Union 
it  may  be,  but  not  a  new  one.  If  there  was  any 
dross,  with  that  which  before  was  gold,  and  that 
dross  is  separated  or  consumed  by  the  fire  through 
which  we  are  passing,  that  is  not  to  say  that  the 
gold  itself  is  consumed.  If  there  was  a  dangerous 
cancer  or  sore  on  the  old  body  politic,  and  that 
sore  has  been  probed  and  cut  away  by  the  scalpel 
which  the  war  has  applied  to  it,  that  is  not  to  say 
that  the  body  itself  has  been  destroyed. 

Let  us  not  dishonor  the  memory  of  the  great 
and  good  men  who  were  specially  raised  up,  for 
the  purpose  of  forming  the  best  Government  ever 
yet  enjoyed  by  any  nation,  under  which  we  have 
so   long  lived   and   prospered,  by  saying  that  the 
work  which   they  accomplished  is  a  failure,  and 
we   must  organize  a  new  government!     Shall  we 
give    up    that     grand    old    Republican    form    of  - 
Government  which  Washington  and  his  compeers 
bequeathed   to   us?    Never!     Never!  !     If,   from 
time  to  time,  any  defect  or  imperfection  is 'found 
to  exist,  it  may  be  remedied.     If,  in   the   Union 
itself,  any  weakness  is  discovered,  even  that  may 
be  remedied.     This  civil  war  will  make  the  Union 
stronger  than  it  ever  was  before.     There  may  be 


266  CONCLUSION. — THREE   PARTIES. 

fewer  States,  or  more  after  the  war,  but  it  will  be 
the  same  Union.  There  were  but  thirteen  States 
when  that  Union  was  formed,  but  many  States 
have  been  added  to  it  since.  Yet  we  do  not  say 
there  is  a  new  Union  formed,  every  time  a  new 
State  comes  into  it.  It  is  the  same  old  Union. 
Even  so,  if  any  State  should  drop  out  of  the 
Union,  it  would  not  thereby  be  destroyed ;  it 
would  be  the  same  Union  still. 

It  is  a  suggestive  fact,  that  the  loyal  Anti-slavery 
party — it  was  the  Conservative  party  before  the 
war — we  would  call  it  the  Constitutional  party- 
some  call  it  the  Republican  party, — and  certainly, 
no  one  who  is  a  Republican,  ought  to  object  to 
the  name — but  whatever  name  it  may  be  known 
by,  it  is  the  party  to  whom  that  gracious  Provi 
dence  which  has  ever  watched  over  the  destiny  of 
the  nation,  has  specially  entrusted  the  maintenance 
of  the  Union,  and  the  preservation  of  the  Govern 
ment,  in  the  terrible  and  fiery  ordeal  through 
which  we  are  passing.  The  two  parties,  the  Pro- 
slavery  and  radical- Abolition — which  sought  to 
destroy  the  Union  and  brought  the  war  upon  the 
country,  have  been  left  out — Providtajne  seems  to 
allow  them  no  part  in  administering  the  Govern 
ment  in  the  present  crisis.  It  is  a  suggestive  fact. 


CONCLUSION. — THREE   PARTIES.  267 

There  is  another  party,  which  occupies  rather 
an  anomalous  position  at  present — which  can 
hardly  be  said  to  be  a  party,  but  a  fragment  of 
the  old  Democratic  party — the  Peace-party — the 
Copperhead-party — who  live  in  the  Free  States,  but 
whose  sympathies  and  hearts  are  with  the  rebels 
at  the  South — who  are  in  favor  of  a  reconstruc 
tion  of  the  Union,  with  the  institution  of  slavery 
intact — and  this  too,  when  they  must  see  and 
know,  that  the  horrors  of  slavery  have  reached 
their  climax  in  the  perpetration  of  the  blackest 
treason  against  both  Heaven  and  earth,  ever  yet 
committed  by  devils  and  wicked  men !  This  Peace- 
party  should  not  live  in  the  Free  States,  but  they 
ought  to  take  up  their  abode  among  their  seces 
sion  friends  at  the  South,  where  they  properly 
belong.  They  may  struggle  on  a  little  longer, 
as  a  drowning  man  catching  at  straws,  to  keep 
from  sinking  ;  but  it  will  be  a  vain  struggle.  The 
power  of  the  party  for  good  or  for  evil,  is  at  an 
end. 

The  loyal  Anti-slavery  or  Constitutional  party, 
have  ever  been  as  much  opposed,  in  sentiment,  to 
slavery,  as  the  radical  Abolitionists  themselves, 
and  have  ever  believed  that  it  was  an  evil  of 
such  a  nature,  as  must  necessarily  come  to  an  end, 


268  CONCLUSION. — THREE   PARTIES. 

in  the  progress  of  events.  But  they  were  not 
willing  to  scatter  firebrands,  arrows  and  death, 
and  to  involve  their  country  in  the  conflagration 
of  a  civil  war,  in  order  to  destroy  an  Institution 
which  they  had  no  hand  in  creating.  They  were 
willing  that  the  people  in  the  States  where  it  ex 
isted,  and  that  Wise  Providence  over  them,  that 
controls  and  disposes,  finally,  of  all  such  ques 
tions,  should  have  the  entire  management  of  an 
affair,  that  had  been  placed  beyond  their  own 
control.  And  now,  when  the  people  of  those 
states  have  appealed  to  arms,  and  the  Lord  has 
permitted  the  madness,  to  seal  the  doom  of  Slavery, 
what  could  we  do,  but  accept  the  issue  forced 
upon  us  ?  The  time  for  conciliation  and  compro 
mise  expired,  when  this  issue  was  joined.  It  is 
vain  to  talk  of  Conservatism  now. 

It  is,  perhaps,  worthy  of  notice,  how  guarded 
and  cautious  our  President  has  been,  in  striking 
down  slavery,  not  to  trample  under  foot  at  the 
same  time,  the  Constitution  which  he.  was  sworn 
to  observe.  While  the  Pro-slavery  party  have 
anathematized  him  for  interfering  with  the  Insti 
tution  at  all,  the  radical  Abolitionists  have  vili 
fied  and  denounced  him  for  not  striking  a  more 
effective  blow.  They  would  have  had  him  eman- 


CONCLUSION. — THREE   PARTIES.  269 

cipate  the  slaves  in  the  Loyal  as  well  as  in  the 
disloyal  States  ;  when  they  know  he  had  no 
power  to  do  so  under  the  Constitution.  It  was 
only  the  War-power  which  gave  him  the  right  to 
emancipate  the  slaves  of  rebels — but  it  gave  him 
no  right  to  interfere  with  slavery  in  the  loyal 
States.  He  has  pursued  a  wise  and  prudent 
course ;  and  every  loyal  man  in  the  country  must 
honor  and  respect  him  for  having  confined  him 
self,  strictly,  within  the  limits  of  Constitutional 
authority.  When  slavery  is  dead  in  the  rebel 
states,  it  will  soon  die  a  natural  death,  in  the 
loyal  districts  where  it  has  been  left  remaining. 
Public  sentiment  at  the  South  against  the  Insti 
tution,  from  present  indications,  will  soon  be  so 
potent,  and,  almost  overwhelming,  that  no  man 
who  thinks  any  thing  of  his  own  honor,  will  be 
willing  to  be  known  as  a  slave-holder,  and  they 
will  voluntarily  emancipate  their  slaves.  The  few 
who  might  be  unwilling  to  do  this,  will  find  how 
utterly  vain  will  be  the  attempt  to  hold  their 
slaves  still  in  bondage,  when  the  slaves  all 
around  have  obtained  their  freedom.  It  would 
be  contrary  to  the  instincts  of  humanity,  to  sup 
pose  that  these  millions  of  emancipated  slaves, 
who  have  just  begun  to  taste  the  sweets  of 


270  CONCLUSION. — THREE  PARTIES. 

liberty,  would  feel  no  sympathy  for  their  breth 
ren  still  held  in  bondage,  and  make  no  efforts 
for  their  liberation.  Yes,  slavery  is  dead — the 
temple  of  the  huge  and  decrepit  old  idol  is  de 
molished.  The  wheels  of  his  bloody  car  had 
crushed  more  victims  into  the  earth,  than  ever 
did  that  of  Juggernaut.  But,  I  venture  to  pre 
dict,  that,  in  ten  years  more,  our  American  soil, 
thrice  hallowed  and  consecrated  with  blood,  will 
not  be  pressed  by  the  foot  of  a  single  slave. 

And  to  whom  will  the  honor  of  this  victory 
be  due?  To  the  Pro-slavery  party?  Just  as 
much  due  to  them  as  to  the  radical  Abolitionists. 
They  made  the  war,  and  the  war  has  destroyed 
Slavery.  But  they  did  not  aim  at  this  result? — 
they  made  the  war  to  maintain  and  perpetuate 
slavery.  Will  the  honor  be  due  to  the  radical 
Abolition  party  ?  The  party  has  ever  been  very 
small  and  insignificant.  They  have  never  had 
control  of  the  National  Government.  They  did 
not  send  forth  the  proclamation  of  freedom  to 
the  slaves — and  they  have  never  brought  liberty 
to  a  single  slave,  except  perhaps  to  a  few  scores, 
whom  they  may  have  aided  to  run  away  from 
their  masters.  If  their  leaders  could  have  suc 
ceeded  in  their  designs  they  would  have  dissolved 


CONCLUSION. — THREE   PARTIES.  271 

the  Union  long  ago,  and  erected  two  Republics 
out  of  the  old  one,  viz  :  a  free  and  a  slave-Re- 
Republic  ;  separated  from  one  another  only  by 
Mason's  and  Dixon's  line,  but  giving  to  the  latter 
the  richest  and  fairest  portion  of  the  American 
Continent,  over  which  to  extend  and  propagate 
the  curse  of  slavery,  perhaps  for  centuries  to  come. 
No,  a  Wise  Providence  has  conferred  on  the 
loyal,  Anti-slavery  party,  the  honor  of  terminating 
the  existence  of  this  evil  in  our  land.  President 
Lincoln,  acting  as  executioner,  held  the  axe  in  his 
hand,  by  which  the  head  of  the  old  Dagon  was 
severed  from  his  body. 

In  conclusion,  the  Christian  reader  will  not  fail 
to  see  most  palpable  proofs  of  the  guidance  and 
leadings  of  that  Wise  Providence,  in  all  the  re 
markable  vicissitudes  through  which,  as  a  people, 
we  have  been  made  to  pass.  It  was  not  because 
the  Lord  abhorred  us  as  a  people,  but  because 
of  his  great  favor  towards  us,  that  he  hath  purged 
us,  as  gold  is  purified  in  a  furnace.  We  have  a 
great  mission  to  perform,  and  there  is  a  bright 
destiny  before  us,  in  the  future;  and  it  was 
necessary  that  we  should  receive  a  discipline  to 
prepare  us  for  both.  It  was  designed  that  we 
should  be  not  only  a  great,  but  an  upright  people. 


272  CONCLUSION. — THREE   PARTIES. 

Who  can  doubt,  that,  when  this  war  is  over  we 
shall  be  a  greater  and  a  more  liberty-loving  peo 
ple  than  ever  before?  Our  mission  is  to  give  to 
the  nations  of  the  earth,  a  practical  demonstra 
tion  of  the  great  problem,  never  before  solved, 
that,  man  is  capable  of  self  government.  It  is  to  be 
our  destiny,  to  teach  all  tyrants  and  oppressors, 
that  their  days  are  numbered.  We  are  to  be  a 
city  set  on  a  hill,  whose  light  cannot  be  hid. 
With  what  fond  anticipations,  and  earnest,  kind 
ling  hopes,  the  eyes  of  millions,  are,  at  this  mo 
ment,  turned  towards  this  land  !  We  should  be 
recreant  to  the  trust  committed  to  us  by  our 
Heavenly  King,  if  we  should  disappoint  them. 
But  He  will  not  permit  us.  I  have  come  to 
believe,  that,  He  has  guarded  and  brought  us  on 
so  far,  He  has  us  under  his  special  guardianship. 
We  know  that  all  earthly  blessings  are  prized, 
according  to  their  cost.  Why  is  it  that  the  peo 
ple  of  this  country,  value  liberty  and  a  free  Gov 
ernment,  beyond  all  other  possessions,  except  that 
they  are  the  children  of  those,  who  passed  the 
ordeal  of  a  seven  years'  bloody  war,  under  the 
most  trying  and  painful  circumstances,  in  order  to 
obtain  that  boon  ?  If  that  war  had  had  no  other 
effect,  than  to  generate  in  the  whole  American 


CONCLUSION. — THREE  PARTIES.  273 

heart,  an  invincible  and  undying  love  for  freedom, 
it  were  an  inheritance  well  worth  all  the  cost. 

So,  if  we  have  been  chastised  with  another  three 
years'  war,  on  account  of  Slavery ;  if  we  have 
been  humbled  to  the  dust,  and  made  to  drink  our 
own  tears,  for  having  connived  at  oppression,  un 
der  our  free  government ;  and,  if  we  have  been 
compelled  to  loosen  the  fetters  of  every  slave,  after 
having  sacrificed  hundreds  of  thousands  of  our 
brave  sons  and  brothers,  what  else  can  we  expect, 
but,  that  it  will  serve  still  to  strengthen  our  at 
tachment  to  the  cause  of  liberty  and  free  govern 
ment?  Is  it  probable  that,  hereafter,  we  shall 
have  any  sympathies  on  the  side  of  tyranny,  in 
any  of  its  forms  ?  All  the  discipline  and  training 
we  have  had,  as  a  nationality,  in  the  school  of 
past  experience,  are  of  a  nature  to  make  us  the 
devoted  and  perpetual  friends  of  freedom.  We 
have  been  educated  and  brought  up  in  the  school 
of  independence.  The  words  of  the  "  Declaration 
of  Independence,"  with  us,  will  have  a  meaning, 
hereafter.  There  will  be  found  neither  knaves 
nor  fools,  who  will  attempt  to  fritter  and  explain 
away  their  significant  import,  as  has  so  often  been 
done,  in  the  past.  We  have  pretty  thoroughly 
and  practically  learned  the  lesson  of  freedom, 


274  CONCLUSION.— THREE  PARTIES. 

which  it  was  the  intention  of  the  Divine  Teacher 
that  we  should  understand. 

I  repeat  my  most  sincere  and  honest  conviction, 
that,  it  is  not  for  naught,  our  nation,  as  yet  com 
paratively  in  its  infancy,  and  far  from  having  at 
tained  its  manhood,  has  been  so  violently  rocked 
in  the  cradle  of  Liberty.  We  have  a  mission  to 
perform.  Onward  then,  my  grand,  noble,  free 
country !  God  speed  thee  onward,  to  the  achieve 
ment  of  the  wonderful  destiny  before  thee!  Me- 
thinks,  I  see  in  thy  extended  horizon,  on  every 
side,  the  dawning  of  a  glorious  morning. 


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